


Elements of Change

by Flyvarna



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Frontier
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2019-09-29 07:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17199362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flyvarna/pseuds/Flyvarna
Summary: A slight change can have drastic effects.  What would happen if the Frontier kids wound up with different Spirits than they did in canon?





	1. Chapter 1

Elements of Change

Prologue

Kouichi Kimura stared out into a seemingly endless abyss, wondering what had happened.  

The memories returned sluggishly, as if he was dragging them out of the mud.  His grandmother getting cancer and slowly fading away as the rogue cells drained the little energy she'd had left.  His mother working herself to exhaustion every day trying to keep up with the medical bills while still supporting them all, and his grandmother telling him he had a twin brother hours before she'd died.

_Kouji, that was his name._

He'd wanted to know what kind of person this Kouji was.  Fortunately, it hadn't taken too long to find his mother's old letters and to track down his father's side of the family.  He had spent the week after that following Kouji around, trying to build up the nerve to speak to him, and just when he'd finally had the perfect chance-his brother getting into an elevator at Shibuya Station-he hadn't been able to make it in before the doors closed.  That was the last thing he remembered clearly, but there was something else, something he was missing.  

He tilted his head trying to remember.  He had felt anger and frustration at not being able to talk to his brother, then desperation.  Running down the stairs to meet the elevator at the lower level, tripping and falling, and...

Had he died in that fall?  Was this the afterlife?  The dark, airless void around him didn't look like an afterlife, and if he'd died, then where were all the other dead souls?  Why wasn't his grandmother, or anyone else he knew who had died there to greet him?  But, if this wasn't the afterlife, then where was he?  What had happened?  Kouichi put his hands to his head as he struggled for an answer, but even as he did, the thought that he had died wouldn't leave.  

A vision flashed in front of his eyes of Kouji with his father and stepmother, all smiling.  Kouichi keenly felt the contrast between those smiling faces and the exhausted faces of his mother and grandmother.

"Why him...?"  Why had _Kouji_ been the lucky one?  Why was _he_ the one who lived with their father in a house that had more than one bedroom?  Why did _he_ have parents who were rich enough to let him get a dog, while Kouichi's mother and grandmother barely had enough money to afford used books for his birthday?  Kouichi felt resentment swelling in his chest, yet as he looked at the vision of his brother something occurred to him.  His mother had never told him about Kouji, what if his father had never told Kouji about _him_?  What if it _wasn't_ his brother's fault that he lived such a good life with their father?  What if he _wanted_ to meet their mother, but didn't know where she lived?

The vision shifted to an image of his mother, pale and tired, sitting at the table.   He had tried many times to tell her to take a day off and get some rest so that she wasn't so drained at the end of the day, but all she did was smile wanly at him and tell him that it would cause trouble for the others if she did.  What could he do?  Tell her to quit her job?

" _What did you get?_ "  An insidious voice echoed around him.

_What did I get?_ Kouichi mentally repeated the words to himself.  He'd got what he needed, but his mother was so tired.  A part of him wanted to grow angry at the injustice of her having to work so hard and yet getting less money than her male co-workers, let alone her ex-husband.  A part of him wanted to hit the father and brother who he didn't remember, yet even as the anger rose so did a feeling of determination.    Why _couldn't_ he feel the same happiness his brother seemed to feel in that vision?  He'd been hiding in the shadows all this time, it was time to come out and fix everything.  He _would_ get his mother a better job, he _would_ find Kouji, and he _would_ tell him about their mother.  He would see them both smile.

He would not be lonely anymore.

"I'll help you, Mom," Kouichi said feeling the fire of his new ambition wrap around him.  "I've held back long enough, now it's time to move forward!"

" _What...?_ "  The voice was no longer a whisper, but a shout of disbelief.  Kouichi realized that there were flames swirling around his body.  What was going on?  The flames didn't burn him, yet it seemed like the fire was actually coming from him.  He stared at the fire in shock as something emerged from the flames, an object that reminded him of some kind of gray and black cell phone which settled slowly into his outstretched hands.  The flames grew even higher as they licked at him, yet they didn't hurt him; instead, he felt pleasantly warm, like he was wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold day.  Then something else hovered out of the fire, something that looked like a red and orange statue of some armored creature

" _Impossible,_ " the voice echoed around him.  " _You have so much darkness in your heart, why did the_ fire _choose you?_ "

The statue unraveled into a swirling ribbon of light which streaked into the top of the device Kouichi was holding.  

" _No matter,_ " the voice said.  " _Fire is easier to corrupt than Darkness.  You will still work for me._ "

"No."  Kouichi's voice was shaky, but it held all of his fiery determination, his passion.  " _Go away!_ "

The fire blazed around him and he heard the voice scream in agony, then he knew no more.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Kouji Minamoto leaned against the train's railing as he watched the tide of children ebb and flow around the strange terminal below Shibuya train station.  What had that text message on the phone that had brought him here meant?  "A game to find the truth?"  It had to be a scam of some kind.  

_What am I doing here?_ He should have stayed and finished buying the flowers.  He was only delaying the inevitable by following the message.  Avoiding the need to call another woman "Mother."  As if she could instantly replace the dead woman in the photo.

A flash of orange and white caught Kouji's eye.  A young boy, perhaps three years younger than him, running quickly away from one train towards the one Kouji was standing on, before disappearing behind the bulk of a train car.  Kouji felt a slight tug of curiosity, but ignored it.  It wasn't any of his business, after all.  A few minutes later, there was a muffled chime as the clock in the terminal struck six.  At the same time, the trains slowly lumbered into action.  He leaned against the rail and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the wind playing with his clothes and long black ponytail.

There was a sudden loud shout from a place not far to his left, and Kouji opened his eyes to see a boy about his own age chasing after the next train over as it moved.  Kouji recognized the boy as the idiot who had leapt into the elevator at the last second on the way there, and before _that_ had barely made it on the train to Shibuya at the last second.  Kouji snorted.  How stupid could one boy be to rush into things like that?

The boy grabbed the rail of the train he was chasing, and successfully pulled himself up before the train's increasing speed became too much.  As he caught his breath, the boy evidently noticed Kouji watching him, and looked up to glare at him.  Kouji countered with a frosty stare of his own.  So what if it was rude?  It wasn't like they knew each other.  After two eternally long seconds, the boy and his train vanished as the two trains went through separate tunnels.  Kouji shrugged, and stepped inside the train.  The rows of empty seats that greeted him felt strange, one more mystery about this whole trip.  He scowled at the elaborate lamp nearest him.  There was definitely something more to this trip than a mere train ride.  Someone was setting him up for something, and he didn't like it.  It was almost like he was being herded into something, corralled.

_Caged._

Kouji sat down on the nearest seat, and then nearly jumped up again at the stifled cry of alarm that came from under the seat in front of him.  He leaned over to get a better look, seeing a flash of white, then two wide tear-filled green eyes staring at him in absolute terror.

"What are you doing there?"

The eyes flinched, as the young boy pulled himself further under the seat.

"D-don't tell anyone I'm here, _please!_ "

"There's no one else to tell, we're the only ones on the train."

"They didn't follow me?"

_What is with this kid?_ Kouji wondered, before replying.  "No."

The boy finally moved out from under the seat, revealing himself to be the younger boy Kouji had seen running earlier, his large, orange hat threatening to tip over at the motion.  He wiped at his face in an effort to get rid of the tears running down his cheeks.

"You haven't told me what you're doing here," Kouji crossed his arms and leaned back against the seat.

" _They_ were looking for me."

" _They?_ "  How hard was it to get a straight answer out of this kid?

"Two boys.  They go to my school; they've been beating me up for two weeks now."  The boy sniffed as fresh tears rolled down his cheeks.  "I wasn't planning on coming here, I was trying to avoid them, but they followed me.  I saw them before they could see me, and came here to hide.  I was just going to be on for a few seconds, until they walked away, but the train started moving."

"So that's it?"

"I wanna go _home!_ "  The boy finished in an earsplitting wail, causing Kouji to groan inwardly. He hated dealing with little kids.

"Look, what's your name?"

"To-Tomoki Himi."  A gurgled hiccup punctuated the words.

"Tomoki.  The trains go in a loop, remember?  If you wait until the train turns around, you can go home."

"But, _they'll_ be there!"

"Do you really think they'll wait an hour just to beat you up?"

"Yeah."  The boy's eyes lit up.  "But, you'll protect me, right?  Please, I don't want to be hurt again."

Kouji snorted.  "I'm not your mother.  Why not do what you did before?  Running and hiding sure seemed to work."

The boy- _Tomoki,_ Kouji reminded himself-wilted at his words, then started bawling.  Kouji rolled his eyes in exasperation, getting up to leave.  At least the next car over would be peaceful.

"No, don't go!"  The boy's terrified shriek was drowned out by an even louder noise from outside the train.  The lights dimmed, pitching the car into the shadows.

"Wh-what's going on?"  Kouji heard Tomoki exclaim as the world lurched, throwing Tomoki to the floor as the lights flickered out altogether.  Kouji cursed and fought to keep his balance as he struggled in the direction of the boy's whimpers and sobs.  The train lurched again, and Kouji realized that it would be easier to reach Tomoki if he was closer to the floor and not on two legs.  So he got down on all fours and resumed moving.   Somehow, the darkness around them became more intense the closer he got to where Tomoki was lying, yet Kouji felt something-he couldn't describe it as a _presence_ , but it was more than just a feeling of freedom.  There was _nothing_ that would hold him back, not even the darkness.  

The presence, or whatever it was, gently guided him through the darkness, and he sighed in relief as his questing hand touched Tomoki's shoulder.  While Kouji normally hated being touched by other humans, the urgency of the situation was an exception.  He felt Tomoki's tense body curled up and shaking where he had fallen.  What had scared him so much?  Did he think the train was going to crash, even though it was still running at full speed?  Kouji reached over to pick Tomoki up and held him to his chest.  The younger boy stiffened at the contact, but then slowly started to relax, the ragged sobs fading to mere breathing again.

"Are you okay?"  Kouji asked after a few minutes had passed.

"I don't know how to describe it, I feel..."  Tomoki's voice trailed off.  "Scared, like when I see Ka...those bullies about to beat me up.  My heart's pounding, but I-I also felt really weird.  Numb, like I'm not attached to anything or anyone.  But, that's really silly, right?"

"You aren't hurt?"

"No.  What happened?

"I think the train might have hit something, but it's still going."  Kouji looked up at the windows, trying to see some sort of clue, but there was just darkness.

"That's really weird."  Tomoki scrambled up to look over Kouji's shoulder at the doorway behind them, an action that made Kouji's skin crawl.  He definitely seemed to be feeling better, Kouji reflected regretfully.

Light suddenly filled the train car, and Kouji only had a brief moment to wonder why it was coming from the cell phone in his pocket before the phone started to move.  He instinctively grabbed the glowing object before it could fly off, only to realize that it was disintegrating, no, _changing_.  The familiar contours of his phone were being replaced by something else.

"No!"  Tomoki's shrill voice next to his ear made him flinch, only to belatedly realize that the same thing seemed to be happening to Tomoki's phone.  "Mom!  I have to call Mom, don't break on me!  No no no _no_..."

Tomoki frantically pounded the buttons, but it clearly wasn't getting him anywhere.  Kouji turned back to look at his own phone, or whatever it had turned to.  A blue and white device, with three buttons on the front and one on the side.  It was the same shape as Tomoki's green and white one.

"Kouji Minamoto."

The feminine voice came from Kouji's device, and after a moment, he realized it was also coming from Tomoki's.

"Tomoki Himi," the voice continued.  "These are your Digivices.  Welcome to the Digital World."

"No!"  Tomoki threw the still-glowing object in his hand down to the floor.  "Turn around!  Take me home _right now!_ "

There was no response.

Tomoki choked out a sob, and ran out of the car.  Kouji suspected that he was trying to find the train's driver and convince whoever it was to let him go home.  Kouji felt a bit sorry for the driver, but it wasn't his problem anymore.  Instead, he returned his attention to the phone, or was it a "Digivice" now?  He touched one of the buttons on the front, which made the words "No Data" appear on his screen.

"You must find the Spirits, Kouji Minamoto."  The female voice again.  Kouji scowled down at the still-glowing object he held.  Who was she?  What did she want?

"When you find the Spirits, the truth will become clear."

With those words, the device stopped glowing.  Kouji's eyes narrowed.  What was going on?  What truth?  He looked over at Tomoki's discarded device, then picked it up.

"A 'game' to find the truth, huh?"

This could be more interesting than he thought.

...

Kouichi woke slowly to the warm feeling of the sun on his face.  He opened his eyes, throwing an arm in front of his face to block out the too-strong light.  What had happened?  He had been following Kouji, trying to find the right moment to introduce himself, then just when that moment had happened he'd missed the elevator.  He remembered running down the stairs, falling, then there was a weird dream about Kouji, fire, and a mysterious voice telling him to work for it.  This clearly wasn't a dream, but it wasn't Shibuya station either.  Where was he?  How had he come there?

"Hey, he just moved."

The lazy-sounding masculine voice came from somewhere on his right side.

"Of _course_ he moved, idiot," a high-pitched squeaky voice retorted from his left.  "I told you he was just asleep." 

Kouichi pulled his arm down, revealing two blurry faces looking down at him.  It took him a moment to realize that they weren't _human_ faces.  The one on his right looked like a yellow rabbit with yellow pants, while the one on his left vaguely resembled a white pug, wearing an old-fashioned pink belt-like haramaki.

"Are you all right?"  The one on the left asked in the squeaky voice.

"What are you?"

The creatures both stared at him as if he'd lost his head.

"Then, it's true?"  The one which had spoken asked.  "You really _are_ a human?

It was Kouichi's turn to stare at them.  _Is this some kind of dream?_ He wondered.

"Y-Yeah," he said reluctantly.

The creature which had spoken before gasped, its- _his_ -eyes shining.

"It's true!  They do exist, Neemon!"

"Eeh?"  The rabbit-like one tilted his head.  "That's a human?  Didn't you say they were bigger than that?"

" _Idiot_ , he must be in his Child form.  They get bigger when they Evolve."

Kouichi had no idea what they meant by that, but concluded that the creatures meant no harm.  He sat up, trying to figure out where he was and how he had got there.  A grassy field surrounded them, complete with orange, red, and pink flowers.  Beyond that, there was a cluster of buildings, presumably a town of some kind and where his new companions came from.  Kouichi turned his head to look behind them...

He was less than three feet from the edge of a cliff, which jutted out into hundreds of feet of empty air.

The view brought back half-remembered images of the too-hard ground rushing up at him as he had tripped on the stairs.  Kouichi was instantly seized by an inescapable dizziness and he shrieked as he backed away from the edge.

"What's wrong, are you all right?"  The white creature asked.  Kouichi couldn't answer him, as his stomach lurched.  It felt as if any effort to open his mouth would cause his revolting stomach to finally break the dam.  Instead, he turned so that he wouldn't have to see the cliff and concentrated on calming his stomach.

"I think he's sick," the yellow creature, Neemon said.

"He's not _sick_ ," the white one snapped back.  "Going by the way he acted when he saw the edge, I'd say he's afraid of heights."

"I'm not afraid of heights," Kouichi croaked as he started getting his stomach under control.  "I'm just dizzy from looking down."

"Maybe you shouldn't look down?"  Neemon suggested unhelpfully.

Kouichi didn't respond. _I never had any problems with heights like that before,_ he thought.  Admittedly, he'd never been this high up before.  Was it because of that, or had it been from when he'd fallen down the stairs?

Kouichi's stomach settled some more, letting him relax a bit.  He opened his eyes-carefully, to avoid looking out at the abyss again-and saw the two creatures hovering over him, with concerned expressions on both their faces.

"Are you feeling better?" The white one asked.

"Sort of.  As long as I don't have to look at it, I'll be okay."

"That's good," the yellow one said.

"Where are we?"  Kouichi asked.  "Last thing I remember I was at Shibuya station..."

"What's Shibuya?"

Kouichi stared at the yellow one for a moment.  _Am I still dreaming?_ He wondered.  It would make sense for him to see creatures like these in his dreams, but there was no denying how realistic his "dream" felt, down to the unpleasant feeling of his still unsettled stomach.

The white one snorted.  "It's obviously somewhere in the human world.  Oh, we haven't introduced ourselves yet.  I'm Bokomon."

"I'm Neemon," the yellow one said.  "Nice to meet you."

"Kouichi Kimura.  You haven't answered my question."

"You're in the Digital World," Bokomon told him.  "There are no humans that live here, only Digital Monsters.  We call ourselves Digimon for short."

"How did I get here?"

"We found you," Neemon said.

" _Found_ me?"

"Yeah, you were just lying there, and we found you."

"Stop being so dense, idiot!"  Bokomon grabbed the edge of Neemon's red pants and released it, "snapping" it into Neemon who yelped and danced around for a moment.  He turned back to Kouichi.

"Neither of us actually saw how you came here, we just saw you there."

"So, how am I going to get home?"

Both creatures-no, _Digimon_ -flinched.

"I don't know," Bokomon admitted.  "The human world was thought to be a myth, but if you can get there, then it follows that you should be able to get back."

_I'm stuck here,_ Kouichi thought.  He hoped that his mother wouldn't worry too much about him before he could get home.  

The sound of a distant train whistle made all three of them look up.  Far off in the distance, a brown train streamed along the tracks mid-air, heading towards the town.

"A Trailmon!"  

"Trailmon?"  Kouichi glanced curiously at Bokomon.

"Yes, it comes once every turn of the blue moon to deliver supplies, but we weren't expecting any deliveries for the next five days."

Kouichi wondered what those "supplies" were, but decided not to ask.  Instead, he gingerly got to his feet, carefully avoiding any glances at the cliff next to him.  He turned to the town behind him, a series of buildings that gleamed in the setting sun.  They looked like they were made of copper, or perhaps bronze.  _If there's a train here,_ Kouichi thought, _maybe someone there can help me get home._

"Are you going to the Flame Terminal?"  Bokomon asked.

"I'm going to that town over there."

"That's the Flame Terminal."

Kouichi shrugged, but didn't say anything else.  He could hear the other two following him, Neemon humming some kind of song as he walked.  Just as they reached the outermost edges of the terminal town, Kouichi felt the ground tremble beneath him slightly, as if there had been a minor earthquake.  He was about to ask his companions if they had felt that, when Bokomon shrieked in terror.

"This can't be right, what is _he_ doing here?"

"What-" Kouichi was interrupted by a loud _thud_ as something big landed in front of them.  Neemon and Bokomon both shrieked and hid behind him as he tried to glimpse the massive creature in the settling dust, which revealed foam-flecked teeth that were as big as the ones on those dinosaurs Kouichi had seen on his last field trip to the museum.  Three dog-like heads that could tear off a human limb without even trying spawned from a single neck, and all three heads were focused on _him_.

"L-Lord Ceruberumon," Bokomon's voice sounded as if he wished he could be anywhere else.  Kouichi mentally agreed with him.  "W-what brings you here?"

"This is the one," the middle dog's head rasped in a voice which sent chills down Kouichi's spine.

"W-What are you talking about?"  Bokomon stammered.  Kouichi could feel the little Digimon shaking behind him.

The creature, Ceruberumon, didn't bother to respond, but crouched in a pouncing position, which made a sixth sense ripple through Kouichi's skin.  Obeying it, he threw himself backwards as Neemon and Bokomon scattered in opposing directions.  As he fell to the ground he felt something shift then fall out of his pocket.  The creature landed right where he had just been standing.

"Cherubimon was right," it snarled.  "The Spirit of Fire chose you."

Kouichi frowned.  The words " _The Fire chose you_ " triggered something half-remembered from that weird dream he'd had just before he met Neemon and Bokomon.  He glanced at whatever it was that had fallen from his pocket, only to realize that it was the gray and black device from his dream.

_It wasn't a dream._

" _Hellfire!_ "  The Ceruberumon spat a stream of green fire out of its middle mouth, right at him and the device.  Kouichi cried out and raised his arms in a futile gesture of warding, but the fire did not reach him.  He lowered his arms in time to see the now glowing device hover in mid-air, absorbing the flames.

"What-!"  The Ceruberumon began, but it was too late for him.  The device suddenly released orange flames, engulfing it.  Kouichi pulled himself to his feet, as the device hovered over to his hands.  It was surprisingly cool to the touch, in spite of the fact that it had been spewing fire moments before.

"Come on!"  Bokomon pulled at Kouichi's shirt.  "That won't keep him busy for long!"

Kouichi didn't have any time to think about how someone could survive incineration, but as he took off after Neemon and Bokomon a numb part of his brain reasoned that it made sense.  After all the Ceruberumon breathed fire, wouldn't it make sense that it could survive in fire?  But, the encounter left a thousand questions unanswered as they ran through the metallic buildings of the town.  Kouichi found the breath to get at least one of them out.

"What was _that?_ "

"That was Cherubimon's chief enforcer for the district, Ceruberumon," Bokomon answered tartly.  "And why didn't you _tell_ me you had a Legendary Spirit?  You should have used it against Ceruberumon"

"A what?"

"A Spirit.  The crystallized essence of a Legendary Warrior..."  Bokomon was too out of breath to say any more, concentrating on their mad dash through what felt like a maze of buildings, finally slowing to a huffing, weary stop behind one of the larger ones.

"Okay," Kouichi wheezed as he leaned against the nearest wall.  "What is going on?  What is a Spirit, how do I use it, and who is Cherubimon?"

"He's a real bad guy," Neemon said mournfully.

"I'm sure Kouichi's picked up on that by now."  Bokomon "snapped" Neemon's pants again, and then they all paused as another train whistle pierced the air.  

"The Trailmon's leaving already?"  Neemon asked.

"That's strange; they normally take longer than that."  Bokomon pulled a large book out of his haramaki.  "To answer your question, the Legendary Warriors were a group of powerful Digimon, each the most powerful of their element, who defeated the tyrannical Lucemon.  They sealed him off from the world, then crystallized their souls into Spirits to preserve their skills in case Lucemon found a way to escape."

"Okay," Kouichi said politely, "But, where's this Cherubimon come in, and why does he want these Spirits so badly?"

"He wishes for the Legendary Warriors to serve only him," Bokomon replied.  "So far he has found four of them, and forced them to be his servants."

"What about the others?"  Kouichi looked at the device he still held in his hands.

"We don't know, someone hid them somewhere, and Cherubimon is looking for them."

"He's looking for you, too," Neemon added unhelpfully, then wilted under the glares he received.

“But, how do I use this Spirit?”

“I have no idea.  All I know is that the Spirits are powerful, and unless you can find out how to use it, we’re helpless.”

Kouichi gritted his teeth in an effort to avoid snapping at Bokomon.  "How do I get away from him, then?"

"You'd have to find some way to get to the mainland," Bokomon replied.  "A Trailmon, or some Digimon with wings that would be-"

"Mainland?  You're not telling me this whole place..."  Kouichi felt his stomach revolt again at the memory of the abyss.

"Unfortunately, it's true.  The Terminal's leaders gave Ceruberumon much of the local Digicode to prevent him from attacking the city."

Kouichi had no idea what "Digicode" was, but he knew it wasn't a good thing for him.  

_I really am stuck here,_ he thought.  Out loud, he said "What would be the quickest way out, then?"

"A Digimon with wings.  That Trailmon just left, and the next one's not due for-" Bokomon was cut off again as green fire erupted from an alley behind them, narrowly missing them, then it was back to running for their lives again.

...

Takuya Kanbara wished his destiny _didn't_ involve loudmouthed girls.

What had started as something a strange female voice on his phone had called a game to find his destiny had turned into some sort of nightmare when the train had lurched, as if it was falling apart, then had plunged into darkness.  He should have panicked, but there was something keeping him levelheaded.  A feeling that he needed to be as calm as possible to get the other two children, a blond girl and a heavyset boy, on the train through whatever they were going though.

He could have sworn he saw mysterious shapes, almost like illusions, on the other two children, but then the lights had come back on and they were back to normal.  And then he'd realized that his cell phone was fading into some weird device thing, and they had come out of the train tunnel into broad daylight.

Now he was in another world, or so the voice that came from the red and white "Digivice" said.  Going by the strange jellyfish-like creatures, which had been floating by their train, he believed it.  Of course, he’d wanted to get out there and explore, but that snobby girl had other ideas.

“We have no idea what’s out there,” she said irritably.  “Look, I think we need to get out of here.  There’s going to be another train soon…”

“Yeah," Takuya retorted.  "And look what happened.  The last train not only spoke to us, but dumped us here.  I don’t think there’s going to be another train anytime soon.”

The girl’s eyes flashed with hidden temper.  “So, we wait for the next one.  This place is too dangerous for us.”

“Oh yeah, like a bunch of flying jellyfish blobs are going to hurt us.”

“They could, if they’re like real jellyfish,” the other boy-what was his name again?  Junpei, that was it, said.  “Don’t they have stingers or something?”

“Whatever.”  Takuya threw up his arms in frustration.  “I'm going to check this place out, don't you try to stop me."

"Don't _you_ come crawling back to us when you get into real danger, then," the girl retorted.  "This isn't some kind of theme park!  And my name isn't ' _you_ ,' it's Izumi Orimoto!"

"Yeah, well..."  The stunning retort that Takuya was just coming up with to put that girl in her place was cut off by an explosion behind the buildings across the rails.  Before anyone could react, a boy and two creatures ran out from between the buildings, narrowly escaping the flames.

"What..." Takuya began in astonishment, as the odd trio scrambled across to their side of the rails.

"No time!"  The boy gasped, pulling himself on the platform.  "Run, we're being chased!"

Takuya took one look at the inferno and swiftly concluded he didn't want to know what caused it.  Instead, he turned and ran after the boy and the creatures.  He heard the gasps and pants of Junpei and Izumi as they followed him.  One of the creatures, a small, white... _whatever_ took the lead through winding alleys, and past more of those white jellyfish-like blobs they had seen from the train before ducking into one of the larger buildings.

"We aren't safe yet," it squeaked as they tried to catch their breath.  It- _he?_ \- walked into the center of the circular room, and pulled a nearby rug off the floor, revealing a trapdoor.  As the trapdoor was opened, Takuya saw a ladder leading down into darkness.

"This will take us to a secret room.  We should be safe down there."

Izumi, Junpei, and the yellow creature swiftly headed down the ladder, and out of sight.  When the new boy had his turn however, Takuya noticed that he went very pale when he looked down the ladder.  _Come to think of it,_ Takuya thought, _isn't that the same boy from Shibuya?_   _No, wait.  That one had a ponytail._ They had to be related, though; the puffy black hair and troubled deep blue eyes were exactly the same color, and the face was virtually identical to that other boy's.  Takuya made a mental note to ask the boy about it later.

"Kouichi?"  The white creature asked.  The boy, Kouichi, mustered up the ghost of a smile.

"I'll be all right as long as I don't look down."

He closed his eyes, then gingerly grabbed the ladder.  Takuya could see that his movement was slow, and he didn't climb as much as he clung, white-knuckled, until his foot found the next rung.  After what felt like an agonizing eternity, he was down enough that Takuya could start.

The secret room was more like a stronghold, probably about as big as the gymnasium from school, Takuya reflected.  It was faintly lit by some kind of glowing moss that clung to metallic walls.  Junpei was already examining it with a curious expression on his face.  Kouichi on the other hand was curled up next to the ladder, shuddering as his face slowly regained its color.  Izumi stood about ten feet from him, her arms crossed irritably.

"Okay, what's going on?  Who are you, _what_ are you, and what was that thing chasing you?"

The white creature sighed as he hopped off the ladder.  "Are we going to go through this every time we meet a human?"

"Eeh?"  His yellow companion said.  "These guys are humans, too?"

"I'm Bokomon, the dunderhead is Neemon.  This place is the Digital World..."

"Yes, we got all that," Izumi interrupted.  "What was that creature?"

"That was Cherubimon's chief enforcer for the district.  And before you ask, Cherubimon is a powerful tyrant who is after Kouichi because he has something he wants."

"Kouichi?"  Izumi turned her gaze on the dark-haired boy, as if seeing him for the first time.

"Kouichi Kimura," the boy introduced himself in a shaky voice.  "Um, nice to meet you."

"I'm Takuya Kanbara."

"Izumi Orimoto.  Nice to meet you."  Izumi followed that up with a smile, causing Junpei to stiffen.

"I'm Junpei Shibayama.  Why is this Cherubimon guy after you?

Kouichi flinched slightly, then climbed to his feet and pulled a black and gray device out of his pocket.

"There's something in this..."

Takuya realized that the device looked a lot like the Digivice his phone had turned into.

_Maybe Izumi was right after all,_ he thought.

...

Kouichi was surprised to see all three of the other kids react to his device with gasps and astonished exclamations.

"Does that mean he'll be after us, too?"  The larger boy, Junpei, asked.

"Huh?"  That could only mean one thing.  "You have them, too?"

The others simultaneously pulled similar devices from their pockets.

"You have Spirits, too?"  Bokomon's eyes lit up with ecstasy.

"What are Spirits?"  Izumi asked.

As Bokomon repeated his earlier speech about what the Spirits were, Kouichi took a closer look at the other devices.  They were the same size as his own, although they seemed to have different colors.  Takuya's was white and red; Junpei's was yellow and blue, while Izumi's was pink and purple.  

"So, you're telling me these 'Spirit' things chose us?"  Takuya asked.  "And they live in these Digivices?"

"Is that what they're called?"  Kouichi wondered.

"That's what the woman who spoke over them called them.  And you're saying we can use these things?"

"That's right, you four should be able use the power of the Spirits to defeat Cherubimon and save the world."  Bokomon said proudly.  Junpei looked up from his Digivice.

"Um, mine says there's 'no data.'"

" _What?_ "  Bokomon grabbed the Digivice from him, and frantically began pushing the buttons.  "This can't be right!  Kouichi's already got his Spirit, why don't you?"

Kouichi looked down at his device as the others started bickering.  In all the fuss since waking up, he hadn't really taken a good look at it.  Pressing one of the buttons showed a picture of something, a red and yellow statue-like thing which he vaguely remembered from his dream.  _No, it wasn't a dream_ , he reminded himself.  He tried to remember what had happened, but he couldn't recall much more than fire, and a booming voice.

"Is that a Spirit?"

He nearly jumped as he realized that the girl, Izumi, had been looking over his shoulder.

"I th-think so," he stuttered.

"Let me see!"  Takuya stopped thumping on his device and looked at Kouichi's.  The others, attracted by the sound, also came over to look at it.

"That's a Spirit?"  Junpei asked.  "It looks like a bust."

"What's a bust?"  Neemon asked.

Just as Junpei opened his mouth to reply, there was a rumble from above.

"Ceruberumon!"  Bokomon exclaimed.  "He must have tracked us down!"

"Can this place hold?"  Takuya asked urgently.

"I don't know.  It was made to be impervious, but that was a very long time ago..."  Bokomon shuddered as another rumble started.

"Is there another way out?"  Kouichi had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"If there was, it's long since been forgotten."

All four humans went pale upon hearing those words.

"What do we do?"  Takuya asked.  "Is there any way to fight?"

"The Spirit!"  Neemon said in an entirely too cheerful voice.  "It burned Ceruberumon once, remember?"

"But, I'd have to get close to Ceruberumon for that," Kouichi pointed out.  

There was a third rumble, and he could see fading sunlight coming through a hole at the top of the room.  Before anyone could react, green fire sprayed into the room, followed by the Ceruberumon.  It landed effortlessly in front of them.

"Give me the Spirit!"  It rasped.  "Or else you will burn."

Kouichi knew he should have felt scared, like he had the other times the Ceruberumon attacked, but for some reason he didn't.  All he could feel was an increasing, consuming _rage_.

"Leave me alone."

He hadn't realized that he'd spoken until he realized the others were staring at him as if he'd gone crazy.  

Maybe he _had_.

It didn't matter.

What mattered was that the Ceruberumon was preparing an attack.  What mattered was that he had _had_ it.  That Ceruberumon wouldn't just go away, so he had to _make_ it go.  He didn't notice the device in his hand glowing, nor did he notice the fire surrounding him again.  He was fiery passion, the device in his hands merely a bridge between him and the punishing flames.

" _Spirit...Evolution!_ "

...

_Oh, boy, he's gone nuts._

Takuya stared at Kouichi's back as the boy not only didn't panic, but stood his ground in front of that raging, twenty-foot long dog-thing.  Then, the flames started leaking out of his Digivice, surrounding him, surrounding them, forming a protective barrier.  Silhouetted against the fire, Kouichi waved his Digivice in the air as some sparkling, shiny, ribbon-like substance came out of it.

" _Spirit...Evolution!_ "

The substance surrounded him, growing brighter and brighter before disappearing in more fire.  What stepped out was a somewhat humanoid creature, bigger than any man Takuya had ever seen.  It resembled the Spirit that he had seen on Kouichi's Digivice.

_"...Agnimon!_ "

" _Porco zio_ ," Izumi muttered under her breath.  "Is that...Kouichi?"

"I think it is," Junpei said in the same awed tone.  The creature stalked through the dimming flames, gaze locked on the Ceruberumon.

"I said leave me alone.  Now, _do it._ "

_He sounds like Kouichi, at least,_ Takuya thought.  _Slightly deeper, though._  

The Ceruberumon opened its middle mouth, spitting green fire at Kouichi/Agnimon who simply absorbed the flames with an upraised arm.  Realizing that the tactic wasn't working, the Ceruberumon crouched, as if it was about to pounce.

"Not this time," Agnimon said.  Orange flames wrapped around his arms, which were then released.

" _Burning Salamander!_ "

The fireballs hit the Ceruberumon's legs and feet, causing it to yelp in pain and writhe around in an effort to put them out.  Agnimon took advantage of its distraction to summon more flames around him, spinning into a fiery tornado.

" _Salamander Break!_ "

The Ceruberumon shrieked as it was engulfed, then was cut off as Agnimon planted a burning foot in its face.  Then, it shimmered, turning into more of the same ribbony stuff that had come out of Kouichi's Digivice.  Agnimon slid to a stop on the ground in front of the mass.

"Evil being, let the flames purify you!"

He held up his Digivice.  As if on cue, the ribbon unraveled and streaked into the Digivice.  An egg floated out of the center of the diminishing mass, then drifted off to some unknown place.

"Digicode... _Scan!_ "

Then there was silence.

Agnimon staggered, then the shimmery ribbons swirled around him and he was Kouichi again.  Pale-faced, gasping and shaking, he quickly sat down.

"What...did I just do?"  He gasped.

"What else?  You Evolved and Scanned that Ceruberumon."  Bokomon sounded like that was something that happened every day.  "If he still had the area's Digicode on him, you might want to release it now.  Then you can leave the terminal."

"Release it?"

"Of course."

Kouichi frowned at his Digivice, which had fallen on the ground in front of him when he'd stopped being Agnimon.

"How do I do that?"

"While we're at it, what's Digicode?"  Junpei asked.

"What do you mean, 'what's Digicode?'  It's _Digicode!_   It's what makes everything.  Don't they have it in your world?"

Junpei bristled a bit under Bokomon's withering glare.

"No, in our world everything's made of atoms."

"Pft.  Atoms?  What kind of name is _that?_ "

"Just answer the question," Takuya groaned.

"Digicode is data.  It makes up everything, and everyone.  Normally, the Digicode is spread throughout the world, but Cherubimon's minions have been Scanning and collecting it all for some reason.  When Kouichi Scanned Ceruberumon, he not only got his Digicode, but any other Digicode he might have been carrying.  Are you following me?"

"So in other words, it's like essence, or a soul, right?"  Kouichi picked up his Digivice and looked thoughtfully at it.

"Essence.  Exactly, but I don't know what a soul is."

"But, won't releasing the data bring back Ceruberumon?"  Izumi asked.

"Of course not.  Digimon data is different from the data of the land.  We build up Digicode as we age and grow.  Scanning Ceruberumon merely reduced him to the form of an egg, which will hatch again in time..."

Kouichi turned the Digivice back and forth in his hands as Bokomon kept talking.  

"How do I release this stuff?"  He muttered under his breath.  "It's not like they came with instructions or anything..."

Takuya looked over Kouichi's shoulder as the other boy pressed each button on his Digivice, reasoning to himself that if Kouichi could figure out how his Digivice worked, then it would be easier for Takuya to do things with it.  The first button he pushed before alternated between Agnimon's Spirit and a "no data" message.  The second button alternated between strange symbols and "Unable to locate user" messages.  _Users?  The others?_ Takuya had no clue.  The third button he pressed, the one on the side...

A stream of shimmery light erupted from the top of his Digivice, streaking towards the remains of the roof, blasting though it, and then splitting into a million smaller beams.

"The Digicode!"  Bokomon exclaimed.

"He did it," Neemon agreed.

The beams of Digicode fell down, reminding Takuya of a pleasant rainfall.  It was impossible to see where they went from the remains of the room, but going by the reaction of the Digimon, it was a good thing.

"Kouichi Kimura."

The female voice was coming from his Digivice.  He looked down at it to see the screen was glowing and there was another unfamiliar symbol on it.

"What...who are you?"

"I know that voice," Takuya said.  "She's talked to us before, when we were coming here."

"This is only the first step of your journey.  It will be hard, but you are not alone.  The one you are seeking is also here."

"The one I'm seeking..."  Kouichi's eyes suddenly went wide.  "Where is he?  Please, answer me!  _Where is he?_ "

But, the Digivice's screen faded slowly to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the first long chapter, plus a couple of hints as to who is going to get which Spirit. "Porco zio" is apparently a mild Italian swearword, which apparently translates to "Uncle Pig." I almost changed Izumi so she spoke French instead of Italian, since I know more French than Italian, but I decided to keep that part closer to the original.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Tomoki pelted down the train's aisle in absolute terror.  Not only was the train taking him to some unknown destination, almost killing him and the other boy in a crash, but his phone was gone, replaced with something else.  He couldn't call his parents to come and get him.  Their reassuring voices from the phone telling him that Mom and Dad would fix everything were gone.  He had to find the train's driver, and tell them to turn around.  He made it to the engine car, pushed open the door-

There was nobody there.

_No...Nononono!_

Why was the train still running?  What was driving it?

_A ghost-!_

He turned and streaked back through the cars.  His only hope was to find that older boy, he would know what to do!

The boy was still in the same place where Tomoki had left him, slumped in one of the chairs.  Tomoki almost tripped in an effort to grab him, only for the other boy to pull back.

"Don't touch me!"

Tomoki gaped at the boy for a second before remembering why he was there, and deciding that a ghost was more important than a short-tempered boy.

"T-there's a ghost driving the train!"

The boy raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"I'm not lying!"  Tomoki paused to wipe tears from his blurring eyes.  "There's nobody in the engine, there's _nobody_ on the train but you and me!"

The boy sighed irritably.  "Fine, I'll go check it out."

The trip back through the cars was less scary now that the older boy was there, still Tomoki kept as close to him as he could without touching him again.

"Hey, I never caught your name," he said, as much to cover the fact that he hadn't been listening when the woman had mentioned it as an effort to fill the empty space of silence.

"Kouji Minamoto."

The silence fell back over them.  Tomoki decided to try again.

"What d'you think is happening?"

Kouji didn't reply.

"I think it's a ghost who doesn't want us to go home, so he changed our phones."

More silence.

"Maybe he's a lonely ghost?"  Tomoki asked lamely.

Kouji started subtly walking faster.

_He hates me._   Tomoki flinched, and stopped talking.

One minute later, they were at the engine car again.  Part of Tomoki hoped there would be someone there, so that he could laugh about how silly he had been, then persuade whoever it was to bring them home.  The other part wanted to show Kouji that he hadn't been lying, and maybe to see the older boy act as scared as he had been.  He ducked behind Kouji as the older boy pushed the door open.

There was still nobody at the controls.

"See?"  Tomoki felt hysteria creep into his voice.  "There's nobody there, it's a _ghost!_ "

"I'm not a ghost."

Tomoki shrieked at the disembodied voice and clung to the nearest warm body, Kouji, who pulled back quickly.

"Let go of me!"

"But..."

Kouji ignored him, pulling himself free, then addressing the speaker.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Digimon you're riding in, idiot.  Haven't you ever heard of Trailmon?"

Kouji's eyes narrowed.

"I haven't," he said.

"What's a Trailmon?"  Tomoki asked.  "Are you the train?"

"Am I the train?  No, I'm the Trailmon.  You're weird creatures."

"Please," Tomoki said, "Can you take us home?"

"What?"

Tears were starting to trickle down Tomoki's cheeks again.  He ignored them.

"I want to go home."

"Can't do that.  My orders are to let you off at Soyokaze Station."

Tomoki froze for a moment, then decided to use his last-resort tactic.  He stamped a foot, then started the tantrum.

"I wanna go home, I wanna go home, _I wanna go home!_ "

He increased the volume to a loud shriek, and when the Trailmon didn't do anything he added crying and sobbing.  It wasn't his favorite way of getting things to go his way, but it always worked at home.  He saw Kouji turning and leaving out of the corner of his eye.

_I bet he thinks I'm some kind of baby,_ he thought ruefully, but it couldn't be helped.  It always worked.

But this time it didn't seem to be working.  The train was still moving at the same speed.  Tomoki gave one final sob and used his other last-ditch tactic: Running away.  Okay, it was unlikely that the train could follow him, but it was better than straining his throat out trying to get the train to change its mind.

Tomoki slowed to a halt in the next car over.  There was no sign of Kouji, and Tomoki wondered if he'd gone back to the last car.  He slumped into a nearby seat.

_What do I do now?_

He tried to think.  The "train" wasn't going to turn around, he couldn't call home.  His family...he felt genuine tears join the ones he'd shed earlier.  He wanted more than anything to see them again.  Mom and Dad would fix everything, he _knew_ it.

The darkness of the tunnel they were in suddenly ended in a brilliant flash of sunlight.  Tomoki looked out the window to see an alien landscape of train tracks crisscrossing and paralleling over empty space and floating rocks too small to be called islands.  It was like something out of a movie.

_This isn't a movie,_ Tomoki realized.  _This is real life.  What's holding the track up?_

He felt pure terror coursing down his spine, and he shrieked again, fleeing the car to find the only other person he could trust to protect him.

...

_The air feels a lot different here_ , Kouji reflected.  He stood outside the train's door on the back platform enjoying the sunlight, and feeling the wind in his face as he thought over what had just happened.  What did the "train" mean when he'd said he had orders?  Who was giving those orders?  Was it the woman who'd spoken over his "Digivice" earlier?

_And more importantly,_ he thought irritably at the sound of pounding feet behind him, _Why did I get stuck with_ him?

The door burst open revealing, naturally, Tomoki.  The boy appeared even more terrified than usual, and before Kouji could snap at him, he threw his arms around Kouji's waist and refused to let go.

"Hey-!"  Kouji tried to pull himself free, but the younger boy held on like glue.

"I wanna go home."  This time, the words were spoken softly, as if Tomoki had given up all hope of seeing his home again.  "I want my mom..."  A gurgled hiccup punctuated his words, making him look even more pathetic.  Not in the way that his tantrum earlier had, but in a more sympathetic way.  Kouji felt empathy for the boy; he had felt the same way every time he'd moved to a new place, or started at a new school.  After a brief hesitation, Kouji put his arm around the trembling boy.

Fortunately, the moment didn’t last long.  There was a loud whistle from the train, a slight jolt, and then the tracks were on solid land again.  Kouji took the chance to finally pry the boy off him.

“Wait, where are you going?”  Tomoki darted after him as he entered the train again.

Kouji ignored him.

“Wait, please wait!”

Kouji gave the kid a chilling glare and sat down on a nearby seat with his arms crossed.

“Grow up.  I’m not your mom.”

Tomoki stared at him, then bit his lip and looked down.  More tears plopped down his cheeks to stain the carpeted floor.

“I know, I’m a crybaby.  But, I don’t know what to do.”

Kouji snorted rudely, but didn’t respond.

“Please, can I stay with you?  If this place is as scary as it looks, then we need to stick together.”

“I’m not here to babysit you.”

Tomoki opened his mouth to reply, but the train gave another jolt and started to slow down.  Kouji could see what looked like a train station coming up outside the window.

“If you stay on the train,” he continued as he stood up again, “It’ll probably take you home.  I’m getting off here.”

“No, wait!”  This time however, Kouji saw the younger boy’s actions coming, and dodged out of the way of his frantic rush, then turned and walked out the opposite way, out the back exit.  The train was lumbering in front of the station, and he hopped off before it could completely stop.  Before he could do anything else however, he noticed an unexpected light coming from his pocket.  He scowled and pulled the blue and white “Digivice” out.

“Search for the Spirit, Kouji Minamoto.”  The female voice again.  _Maybe she’ll answer my questions this time_ , he thought.

“Who are you,” he asked.  “What do you want?”

“Find the Spirit.  Then your questions will be answered.”  Then, the light on the device went out again, leaving Kouji even more frustrated.  He glared at the device, not noticing the train behind him slowly taking off.  

_I’m being herded towards something,_ he reflected irritably.  The feeling only increased his bad mood.

“Kouji!”

_Not again!_

This time, Tomoki slowed down before he could crash into Kouji.

“I’m sorry, I tried to stay on the train, but it pushed me off.”

Kouji eyed the settling dust sharply.  _Definitely being herded.  What am I getting into?_

“What do we do now?”  Tomoki asked in a plaintive voice.

“Search for the Spirit, apparently.”

“What’s a Spirit?”

“I don’t know.”  Kouji scowled down at his Digivice again.  Tomoki wiped the tears from his eyes before continuing.

“How do I get back home?”

Kouji ignored him in favor of looking around to see just what kind of place they were in.  He could see a pebble-strewn path in the thinning trees that spiraled off in the direction of tree houses rising above the horizon.

_Maybe they know what’s going on,_ he thought as he started to walk off the platform.

“No, wait!  Don’t leave me here!”

Kouji turned to face Tomoki, his eyes icy.

“Do you want to go home or not?”

“I-“

“If the train dumped us here, then it will be back.  You’re old enough to wait by yourself, right?”

Tomoki bristled at the insult.

“I’m in second grade, but…”

“But what?  You can’t protect yourself from anything?  So you demand that others do the protecting for you.  And then when you don’t get your way, you cry and scream.”

“I’m not crying.”  Tomoki frantically wiped fresh tears from his face.  Kouji merely glared at him in disgust.

“Just wait for the train,” he said pointedly.  “It’ll take you back home to your mama.”

And he turned away.

The treehouses in the distance formed a small town in gnarled trees, surrounding a larger tree.  Kouji peered out from behind a handy rock to see that the inhabitants were small, plant-like creatures that bustled out on their daily routine.

_What are they?  Are they anything like that train?_ He thought.  _And more importantly, are they friendly?_

Kouji turned his head at an increasingly loud noise to see another plant-creature pushing a cart down the pebbled path towards him.  He decided to take the chance and stepped out from behind the rock.

"Hey," he began tentatively.  The creature stopped and stared at him as if it had never seen a human before.

_Probably not._

"Could you tell me where I am?"  He asked.

"This is Soyokaze village."  The creature paused.  "What kind of Digimon are you?"

"Digimon?"

"Digital Monster.  Wait, could you be a..."  It hesitated, searching for the right word.  "A human?"

"Yeah."

"I thought they were just a myth.  What are you doing here?"

Kouji frowned at that revelation, but continued.

"Do you know what a Spirit is?"

"Spirit?  As in the ten Legendary Warriors?"

"I...guess."

The plant creature thought about it for a moment.

"There were rumors that one of them was hidden around here."

_That doesn't answer anything,_ Kouji thought irritably.

"What is a Spirit?"  He repeated.

"I dunno.  The old stories say they're the Warriors themselves, waiting for the right time to come back, but they're just stories.  I never listened to them."

_It shows,_ Kouji thought.

"Listen, I gotta move," the creature said.  "You should ask the elders about the Spirits, they'll tell you all about 'em."

And before Kouji could react, the creature and its cart were off again, lumbering between the trees and out of sight.  He gritted his teeth in frustration.

_Guess there's no other choice_

He stepped out onto the path to the village and started walking down the final gentle slope.  The creatures, upon noticing him, stopped where they were and stared.  Once he had their attention, Kouji spoke.

"I need to know...what can you tell me about this world?"

...

Tomoki paced back and forth on the platform in a circular movement which echoed his thoughts.

_I'm a coward and a crybaby and Kouji doesn't like me, but I wanna go home and see Mom and Dad and my brother again, but this place is big and scary and there's nobody to protect me...why am I such a coward?_

The setting sun intensified the light around him, making the platform look as if it was drenched in blood.

_No, not blood._ He thought.  He needed to think of something more positive.  _Jello.  That's it.  Everything's been dipped in jello._

But, that thought only made him hungry.  He hadn't eaten since lunch.

_I have to do something,_ he realized.  _I can't wait for the train forever..._

He looked back down the way they had come.

_I'll just walk home!_

Okay, there was still the question of how he was going to get home when the train tracks hovered in the sky...

Tomoki hesitated.  One slip out there and hunger would be the least of his worries.

_No, I just have to wait for the train, right?_

He sat down and waited some more, but as time passed and the shadows lengthened Tomoki found his patience dwindling and his hunger and desperation increasing.

_It's not coming, I'll never get out of here!  I'll never see Mom and Dad again, and I'm so hungry...what is Mom doing right now?  I bet they're freaked!  Dad probably called the cops by now, and Mom..._

The memory of watching a tearful mother on TV pleading for the return of her son came to mind.  He imagined his mother doing the same thing, but the thought of her sobbing while asking him to come home in front of a million faceless reporters, when she hated public speaking made fresh tears fall down his face.

_I want to go home!_

As if to emphasize his thoughts, his stomach gurgled loudly.

_Darn it!  It's getting too dark!_

He reluctantly got off the bench and started tracing Kouji's steps in the increasing darkness.

...

Kouji leaned against a nearby tree and scowled at the darkness.  He hoped that a train had come and taken Tomoki home, but he hadn't heard any passing by.  Was he still out there and waiting for it?  That didn't matter.  The kid was out of his hair, and that was that.  He turned back to the creature, the "Floramon" who had been answering his questions.

"So you're telling me these 'Spirits' are the key to defeating this Cherubimon?"  He asked.  The small, plant-like creature nodded.

"That's right," it said.

"But, you don't know where they are."

"One of them was supposedly hidden near the village, but nobody knows the exact location.  They were hidden to keep Cherubimon from finding them."

"How do I find one, then?"  Kouji glanced down at the Digivice in his hands.  This was the white-and-blue one which had been his phone.  The other one, which had been Tomoki's phone, was still in his pocket.

The Floramon shook its head.  "I don't know.  Many Digimon have heard the rumors and tried to find it, but always in vain.  Would you like anything to eat, human?  A salad, perhaps?"

"No."  Kouji was starting to feel hungry, but he had seen the way the Floramon made their drinks, and if they made their meals the same way, he'd rather not have anything unless he was desperate.  He'd rather not see any Floramon body parts in his salad.  The Floramon shrugged and walked away, and Kouji went back to looking out at the darkness, pressing the buttons on his Digivice almost absently as his conscience pricked him again about Tomoki.  There was no evidence that another train had come through, was he still waiting out there?  Was it possible that he'd been idiotic enough to try and find his way home without the train?  Had the kid become lost, or perhaps something more sinister had happened...

Kouji didn't quite sigh in relief as Tomoki's distant figure slumped out of the trees.  The younger boy looked weary, but otherwise unharmed.

"There was no train," Tomoki said in a strained voice once he was within earshot.  "We're stuck here.  And I'm hungry."

Kouji somehow refrained from making a sarcastic comment about that, then Tomoki saw the Floramon wandering around the village.  He stiffened, eyes practically bulging out of their sockets, and ducked behind Kouji before any of them could see him.

"Wh-wh-what are _those?_ "  He whispered in absolute terror.

"They're called Floramon.  They seem to be friendly."

Tomoki didn't respond, but his shaking body pressed uncomfortably against Kouji's leg.  Instantly, Kouji jumped and pulled back.

"Don't touch me!"  He snapped.

Tomoki stared at him through tear-filled, uncomprehending eyes.  Kouji turned and scowled at the Digivice which he'd dropped in his shock.

"I don't like being touched," he said by way of explanation.

Tomoki didn't move, even as Kouji bent down to pick up the Digivice.  This time, the little machine seemed to be acting strangely, emitting a soft purple light.  Kouji frowned at it.

_It wasn't broken in the fall, was it?_ He thought. 

He paused, then hit the lowest button on the front.  It beeped once, then the light was projected out of the screen like a hologram.  There were three things on that purple field: a blue dot and a green dot together, and a pink dot on the edge of the screen.

_What is this?_

Kouji turned a little and noticed that the image seemed to be a map of some sort, the blue and green dots most likely being the Digivices.  The pink one...  
 _Possibly the Spirit everyone's talking about_ , he realized.  The feeling that he was being herded into something increased.  What had that voice said?  _"When you find the Spirits, the truth will become clear..."_

He scowled at the Digivice once more, then turned and started walking in the direction of the pink dot.

"Wait!"

Kouji didn't bother to answer Tomoki's anguished plea.

"Wait, _please!_ "  The younger boy ran after him.  "Don't leave me here!"

Kouji glared at him irritably before turning away again.

"The Floramon are harmless.  You can ask them when the next train home arrives, now leave me alone!"

The sound of hurried footsteps behind him continued.

_What is with this kid?_   Kouji wondered.

"Where are you going?"  Tomoki asked between breaths.

"I think this thing is showing me where the Spirit is."

"Wait, that's the thing that woman wanted us to find, right?  So, if we find it, we can go home, right?"

Kouji heard the desperation in the younger boy's tone.

"I don't know," he said truthfully.

"I'll go with you.  If I help you find the Spirit, I'll get home faster.  Besides, I'd rather be here with you than those weird creatures."

Kouji rolled his eyes exasperatedly.  He wasn't some kind of babysitter, Tomoki was old enough to take care of himself.  He turned back to the map, following it off the path and through the trees.  Tomoki trailed behind him, this time without complaint.  The map brought them deeper into the shadowed forest.  Fortunately, the Digivice provided enough light that he could see in the darkness.  After about ten minutes of walking, they reached their destination: An enormous tree.  Looking up, Kouji could see a hole in the trunk, not unlike a woodpecker’s nest.

_How do I get up there?_ He wondered.  There weren’t any low-hanging branches he could climb on.  Tomoki pulled up beside him.

“Is it up there?”  He asked.  “But, we can’t get there, what do we do now?”

Kouji ignored him, walking slowly around the tree.  There were no branches on the other side, but there was a crack in the bark at the bottom.  He knelt down to take a closer look.  The crack was bigger than it initially seemed, going beyond the bark and into the tree, but it was too small for him to fit through.

It was just the right size for Tomoki, however.

“Could you fit through here?”  Kouji asked.

“I…think so.”  Tomoki got down on his knees and looked through the crack.  “You think this leads to the Spirit?”

“I think it leads to _a_ Spirit.  There’s supposed to be ten in all.”

“What are they?”

Kouji shrugged.  “The Floramon say they’re ten great warriors who imprisoned some tyrant, then became Spirits so they’d still be around if he broke out.”

“Oh.  But, why did that lady want them?  Is that tyrant guy breaking out?”

“I don’t know.”

Tomoki hesitated, then took off his hat.

“If it’ll get us home quicker, I’ll try it.  Could I use your glowing thingy?  It looks dark in there.”

Kouji handed him his Digivice, only for Tomoki to press his hat into the older boy’s hands.

“Here, I don’t think this’ll fit through the crack.”

He scowled down at the hat irritably, but said nothing as Tomoki wiggled his way into the crack.

“See anything?”  He asked.

“There’s stairs going up.”  Tomoki’s voice became muffled and inaudible, but the sound started coming from higher up.  Just over a minute later, Kouji heard him again.

“I made it Kouji!  Look up!”

Kouji glanced upward to see Tomoki waving at him from the hole.

“Is there anything up there?”

“There’s this weird statue of a fairy.  What’s a Spirit supposed to look like?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe this is it, then?”  Tomoki turned and looked at something out of view.  “I’ll go pick it up just in c…”

There was a flash of pink light from inside the hole, and a stunned silence from Tomoki.

“Um, Kouji, your glowing thingy just ate the statue!”

“What?”

Tomoki’s head stuck out of the hole again.  “I’m not joking.  The statue turned to this weird ribbon and it all went ‘whoosh’ and went into your thing."

"It's called a Digivice."

"Yeah, um, Digivice.  It's showing on the screen.  What do I do now?”

“If there’s nothing else up there, then just come back down,” Kouji told him.  “We can go back to the village and ask them if that’s a Spirit.”

“But, those creatures…”

“They’re harmless.”

“How do _you_ know?”

“The Floramon didn’t attack me.  If they’d wanted us dead, they’d have attacked me the minute I showed up.”

Tomoki looked skeptical, but didn’t object further.  Instead he vanished within the hole, returning out the crack with Kouji’s Digivice.  This time when Kouji looked at the screen, he could see what Tomoki meant when he described it as a "fairy statue."  The pink and purple figure on his screen looked like something that the girls from his class would like, but he was't a fan of fairies.

“What _are_ they?”  Tomoki asked as they started back, it took Kouji a moment to realize he was talking about the Floramon.

“They call themselves Floramon, it’s one type of ‘Digital Monster’ or ‘Digimon’ for short.”

“Like that talking train?”

Kouji didn’t respond.

“Could they get me home?”  Tomoki persisted.

“Ask them yourself.”

The younger boy wilted a bit at his tone, but didn’t press him any further.

The rising moon-no, _moons_ , there were three of them-cast more light than the one back in Japan.  However there were places in the trees that were still cast in deep shadow.  As they walked past one such place, Kouji felt the hair on the back of his neck rise.

_Someone’s watching us,_ he thought.  _If they mean any harm…_

He subtly moved so that he was between Tomoki and the shadows.

_“Shuririnken!"_

Kouji barely had enough time to push Tomoki out of the way as a throwing star whirred through the space where they had just been.  He scrambled to his hands and knees, keeping himself between the attacker and Tomoki, as what looked like a three-foot high black owl emerged.

“Aw darn it, I missed,” it said in a masculine voice.

“Who are you?” Kouji snapped.

“I’m…”  The bird cleared his throat before trying again in a deeper more impressive tone.  “I am Falcomon, of the Bird Bandit Brigade.  Give me your valuables, or else!”

He struck what was presumably supposed to be a menacing pose.  Kouji’s eyes narrowed.

“Tomoki,” he said in an undertone.  “The instant I’m up, run.”

…

Tomoki stared at Kouji's back in shock.

"What?"

"Run.  Get to the village, you'll be safe there."

"But, you'll be..."

"No 'buts.'  Run."  Kouji sprang to his feet.  Tomoki hesitated a moment before he reluctantly turned and ran in the direction of the village.

_I shouldn't be running,_ he thought as he went.  _I should be there helping Kouji, but I can't!  He wanted me out of there to protect me, even though he's gonna die if I don't get help...I have to help him by getting the villagers..._

As he ran past a nearby clump of shadows, something shot out and pulled him in.  He tried to scream, but something feathery covered his mouth.

_Feathers?_

"Ah ah, we can't have you running for help, can we?"  The masculine voice chuckled nastily.  A talon gently ran across Tomoki's face, and he shuddered.  As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see his captor was another giant bird, something that reminded him of an ostrich.  There were three other big birds there, all of them looked like the Falcomon.

Tomoki shifted his eyes back to Kouji and the Falcomon, who were staring each other down.  Kouji had picked up a nearby fallen branch, a leafless one that was easily Tomoki's size and made a decent improvised staff, and brandished it at the bird.

_This is all my fault,_ he thought.  _Kouji's gonna get killed, and it's all my fault.  Why can't I be stronger?_

"You seem to have a death wish, strange creature," the Falcomon said.  "I'll give you one last chance.  Now, surrender!"

The other birds groaned.

"Oh, for..."  The bird that was holding Tomoki groaned.  "He's not supposed to give any chances, what is that newbie _doing?_ "

Kouji only grinned ferally.

"You can stick that down your throat.  In fact, that sounds like a good idea."

That was the only warning the Falcomon got as Kouji became a blur of motion, launching himself stick first at it, as if the stick was a lance.  The Falcomon barely dodged it with a squawk of surprise.

"That human's better than he looks," one of the other birds remarked.  "Hey Peckmon, you think we should go and help him?"

"Let's just see how this plays out," the bird holding Tomoki, who was apparently "Peckmon," said.  "Let the prince win his spurs."

The Falcomon apparently decided that the air was a better option and took off, but he didn't get very far.  Kouji caught one end of the stick into the ground and used it to vault in the air like a gymnast, kicking the Falcomon in the wing and landing on the ground in one fluid motion.

_He's amazing,_ Tomoki thought.  _He'd beat Katsuharu and Teppei no problem!_

The Falcomon crashed to the ground, clearly hurt, but he grabbed a couple of throwing stars.

_"Shuririnken!"_

Kouji dodged one star, which sheared right through his improvised "staff."  The other one caught his jacket, sending him tumbling to the ground with its inertia and pinning him down.

_Kouji!_ Tomoki struggled to get free.

"Oh quit it, ya little ragamuffin," the Peckmon poked his face with a talon.  "Or you're next."

Tomoki stopped struggling, but tears rolled down his face.  _This is all my fault,_ he thought. _If I hadn't got on the train, this wouldn't be happening!_

...

Kouji tried to pull himself free, but the star was too deeply embedded in his jacket.

_Darn it, he thought, I'll have to rip it...No wait.  There's a rock there..._

"Ha!"  The Falcomon hovered over him.  "Not so fast now, are you?"

Kouji glared at him.

"You talk too much."

In one swift motion, he grabbed the rock and threw it as hard as he could at the Falcomon.  The rock hit him square between the eyes, and he fell over dazed.  Kouji pulled the star out of his jacket and inspected the damage.

_Not as bad as I thought, I wonder if there are any sewing kits in the villag_ e...

"Boss!"  The Falcomon cried.  "Boss, help me!"

Kouji cursed under his breath.  _I should have known there were more of them!  At least Tomoki's safe..._

Whatever hope he held for Tomoki's safety was dashed when four other birds, three of which looked like the Falcomon he'd just beaten stepped out of the shadows.  The fourth, which reminded him of a killer ostrich, held a traumatized-looking Tomoki in its feathery arms.

"Well, you're a feisty one," the one who held Tomoki said.  "But this game's over!"

Kouji picked up the remains of his stick, only for the bird to place a talon next to Tomoki's neck.

"Easy there.  Don't want to hurt the little tyke, do you?  But I don't have to worry about it."

The bird used his other wing to strike Kouji before he could react, sending him tumbling to the ground.  As he struggled to get up, he felt his arms seized by two of the other birds, dragging him to his feet.

"We got him, Peckmon," one of them said.  The large bird, who was apparently named Peckmon suddenly had to hold Tomoki tighter, for the younger boy was struggling hard enough to knock them both over.

"Stop it!"  Tomoki yelled.  "You're just a bunch of big bullies!"

"Yeah?"  The Peckmon said.  "And what are you going to do about it?  You'll make an excellent slave, but I can't say the same for your friend here."

He pulled out a throwing knife..

"There are collectors out there that would offer a lot of money for human data."

Kouji closed his eyes.  He was trapped, there was no way out....

_...to freedom..._

"Kunai Bane!"

He imagined the Peckmon launching the knife.  

_No, no more. I am free..._

His desire for freedom was overwhelming, he became freedom, if that made any sense.  Then the talons that held him were gone.  He opened his eyes to realize that he was at the center of a raging whirlwind, which had blown both the knife and the birds that held him down away, and that the wind was coming from the Digivice in his pocket...

As he pulled the Digivice out, Kouji had a vision of the fairy statue he'd seen earlier in his Digivice, only given flesh as an androgynous, feminine-looking fairy.

_This is what you could become_ , it seemed to say.

_No, this isn't right,_ he thought.  _I'm not a woman._

_I am..._

_"Spirit...Evolution!"_

...

Tomoki struggled to break free of the Peckmon's grip as he watched the knife fly at Kouji's head.

_There's nothing I can do,_ he thought desperately.  _Kouji's going to die, and it's all my fault!_

And then a pink light came from Kouji's pocket, a glow that was accompanied by a whirlwind that sent the knife and the birds flying harmlessly away from him, including Peckmon.  The force of an undignified landing sent Tomoki tumbling out of the Peckmon's grip, but the bird was too stunned to notice.  All he, and indeed anyone, could do was stare at the figure in the vortex as he raised the Digivice high.

_"Spirit...Evolution!"_

The light surrounding Kouji quickly became too much for Tomoki to bear, and he closed his eyes.

_"...Peregrimon!"_

Tomoki opened his eyes to see another bird where Kouji had been standing.  No, not a bird.  A bird-man, he had arms in addition to the wings.  He was mainly blue with light purple on the edges of his wings and his belly.  The beak was hooked like a hawk's, with a ray of pink lines on his cheeks

_Is that Kouji?  He looks so cool!_

"Another bird?"  The Peckmon grinned, as far as someone with a beak was able to grin.  "Hey, you wanna join the Bird Bandit Brigade?  We're the most feared..."

"Shut up," the bird-man said in Kouji's voice.  "I've already heard it.  Now, get out!"

Tomoki saw the other birds slowly backing away as the Peckmon sputtered incomprehensibly.

"You'll pay for that!"  He finally snarled, lunging at the Kouji-bird.  Who promptly threw him over his shoulder judo-style.

"I am Peregrimon, the Legendary Warrior of Wind," Bird-Kouji said.  "I gave you a command.  Get out, and don't let me see you again!"

The other birds, including the now-recovered Falcomon, broke and flew away as fast as they could.  The Peckmon on the other hand was even angrier.

"You aren't the Warrior of Wind, you're just a human!"  He pulled out a handful of knives this time.  _"Kunai Bane!"_

The Kouji-bird (Peregrimon?) responded by whipping a pair of fans from his wing feathers.

_"Tempest Blade!"_

Peregrimon thrust the fans in a downward motion, making what looked like a shockwave.  The shockwave knocked all the knives out of the air and continued right through the Peckmon, who screamed for a moment, then the screaming stopped and he hovered in mid-air as a white ring, which reminded Tomoki of the stuff the fairy statue had turned into, came out of him.

"Evil being, let a new wind purify you," Peregrimon said pulling out Kouji's Digivice.  "Digicode... _Scan!_ "

The ring, grew to consume the Peckmon, then turned into a thread, like the statue had, and streaked into the Digivice.  An egg floated out of the final bit of thread as it unraveled, leaving no sign of the Peckmon, and floated off to disappear into the sky.  Then Peregrimon swayed a bit and turned into that glowing white stuff, fading into Kouji again.

"Kouji!"

The older boy slumped quickly to the ground, looking like he'd just run a mile on a hot day.  Tomoki ran over intending to hug him, but remembering at the last moment that Kouji didn't like being touched.

"Are you okay?  What just happened?"

"The wind chose me."

Tomoki blinked.

"The wind?"

"The Legendary Warrior of Wind.  She chose me as her bearer."

_She?  T_ omoki thought, but decided not to say anything about it.  It wasn't his business, after all.

"You saved me back there, if there's anything I can do to thank you..."

"You don't have to thank me."  Kouji pulled himself shakily to his feet and looked down at his Digivice.  "I wonder if it gets any easier the more you use it."

"You mean, you can do that again?"

"She chose me, didn't she?  I'm her bearer now, and it's draining, but I'll be able to do it again when I'm recovered."

Tomoki's eyes lit up.  "Wow.  And she lives in your Digivice now?"

"Yeah."  

Kouji's legs seemed to give out on him a little and he staggered, almost falling over.  Tomoki quickly pulled the older boy's arm around him in support.  For a tense moment, Kouji looked like he was about to snap at him again, but finally sighed and leaned on him.

"We've got to get back to the village," Kouji said.  "We'll be safe there."

"Okay," Tomoki said.  As they started their slow journey towards the village, another thought occurred to him.

"My phone turned into a Digivice, too...does that mean I can become a Digimon like you someday?"

"We'd have to find a Spirit first, but..."  Kouji reached into his pocket and pulled Tomoki's Digivice out.

"Here,"

"Wow, thanks big brother!"

"I'm not your brother."

"But, you saved me back there, just like a big brother.  And you were so cool when you were taking that falcon-thing on.  Please, I need someone to teach me how to do things here, like to fight and defend myself here.  Just until we get home, all right?"

There was a long pause.

"Just until we get home?"

"Yeah."

Kouji shrugged.  "Suit yourself.  Just try not to cry so much, okay?"

Tomoki stiffened a bit, then smiled brightly.

"Okay!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here's my first stab at a fan-made Digimon. So, let me explain my creative process a bit. Originally I was going to go with a kind of androgynous Fairymon, but that concept felt a little bit stale. I thought birds better fit the concept of Wind, and I thought Kouji was more hawkish than fairyish, so I changed the Wind Digimon to a hawk. Peregrimon obviously comes from Peregrine falcons (There's a pair that nests on my library workplace, they're awesome.) The use of fans as weapons...I've always been interested in fans as weapons in other shows, like Avatar and Mulan, so I thought it would be appropriate for a Wind user to have fans.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

"This is only the first step of your journey."  The voice from Kouichi's Digivice said.  "It will be hard, but you are not alone.  The one you are seeking is also here."

"The one I'm seeking..."  Kouichi's eyes suddenly went wide.  "Where is he?  Please, answer me!  _Where is he?_ "

But, there was no response, and the Digivice's screen faded slowly to black.

"Who are you looking for?"  Takuya asked curiously.

Kouichi pulled himself to his feet before reluctantly answering.

"My brother."

"Your..."  Takuya remembered seeing a boy who looked a lot like Kouichi on the way to Shibuya, and later on the elevator to the trains.  Only that boy had had longer hair tied back in a ponytail, where Kouichi's hair barely grazed his shoulders at its longest.  _I knew they were related,_ he thought.  

"He wouldn't happen to look just like you, but with longer hair?"

Kouichi stared at Takuya in surprise before answering.

"You know him?"

"No, I just saw him on the train coming up here and thought you looked like him."

"Could we discuss this later?"  Bokomon interrupted.  "We need to get out of here!"

Takuya glanced at the ruined formerly secret room around them.  The ceiling had been blasted open, there were parts where the exposed metal was still glowing or on fire.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he said.

Fortunately, the ladder to the surface hadn't been hit by the fire, and was still intact.  Izumi and the Digimon quickly went up it.  Takuya was about to go next, but as he walked past Kouichi he noticed that the other boy had grown very pale.

"Are you okay, Kouichi?"

Kouichi mustered up a wan smile.

"I'll be okay.  You guys go."

_Something weird's going on here_ , Takuya thought.  He was acting weird going down, too.  _Is he afraid of heights or something?_

"Are you afraid of heights, Kouichi?"  Junpei asked suddenly.  Takuya had almost forgotten he was there.

Kouichi flinched.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean 'I don't know’?”  Takuya demanded.

"I never had any trouble with heights before coming here, but I…"  Kouichi paused.  "I'm not even sure what happened."

"Hey guys!"  Izumi stuck her head down the ladder.  "What's the hold-up?"

"Kouichi's afraid of heights," Takuya called back.

Izumi's expression turned sympathetic.

"Oh, _che terribile_.  I thought something was going on.  Give me a minute."

As she climbed back down, Junpei spoke up again.

"What happened?"

"I was trying to find my brother," Kouichi said reluctantly as if divulging some great secret.  "Our parents divorced when we were babies, and when my..I just found out about him last week.  I followed him to Shibuya trying to get him alone, so I could introduce myself to him.  I saw him get in a elevator.  I tried to get in with him, but someone pushed me out of the way, and the doors closed before I could get there"

Takuya winced as he realized that that "someone" was probably him.

"I thought he was just going to the basement, so I took the stairs," Kouichi continued.  "I was so desperate to talk to him...it was my one chance to meet him, so I didn't want to miss him.  I ran down the stairs, tripped, and the last thing I remember clearly was falling.  I think that might be where the fear of heights came from.  I never had any trouble with high places before then."

"But, if you fell on the stairs," Izumi said.  "How did you get here?"

Kouichi gazed at her for a moment before shaking his head.

"I don't know.  I don't remember what happened after very well.  I remember something-someone big, telling me to work for him."

"That was probably Cherubimon," Bokomon called from the top of the ladder.

"I can't remember what he did, but I don't think it worked.  I remember fire, the Spirit, and this."  He held up his Digivice.  "But, I don't remember anything clearly until I woke up here."

"That's really strange," Takuya said.  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Bokomon had an oddly speculative expression on his face, as if something had occurred to him, but he didn't say anything.

_That's odd,_ Takuya thought.  _I wonder if he knows something we don't?_

"Could you climb the ladder if you closed your eyes, Kouichi?"  Izumi asked.

"I was going to," Kouichi said reluctantly, "I don't know if I can do it.  It's awfully high up.  I could get down, but it was easier to go down because I couldn't see as much."

"So?"  Takuya said cheerfully.  "It's the same if you close your eyes.  You made it down, right?  Here, I'll go up first, that way if you're having trouble getting out I'll help you.  And Junpei and Izumi can stay here in case you fall."

"You really _are_ an idiot," Izumi sighed, burying her face in her hands.

"What?"  Takuya asked pointedly.  "He needs all the assurance he can get, right?"

He turned and climbed up the ladder, ignoring Izumi assuring Kouichi that he wouldn't fall, and that Takuya was an idiot.  As much as Takuya wanted to respond, it could wait until they were all out.

Neemon and Bokomon were standing at the edge when he made it up, and as he looked down, he could see Kouichi walk over to the ladder with an expression that looked like he'd rather eat a whole lemon than go up the ladder.  He looked up at Takuya, went even paler, then gulped and closed his eyes and reached out for the ladder.  He managed to make it about ten feet off the ground before Takuya saw any evidence of a problem.  Then while feeling around for the next rung, Kouichi's eyes opened long enough to look down, then shut as he gasped, shuddered, and clung to the ladder with whitening, taut knuckles.  Takuya could see that he was starting to sweat.

"Kouichi?"  Izumi called.  "Keep your eyes closed, remember?"

"Couldn't help it. I couldn't find the next one."  Kouichi bit off another gasp.  "I'm almost there, aren't I?"

"Um..."  Junpei was probably working on how to tell him that he was only about a third of the way there.

"Keep going, Kouichi.  You're almost there!"  Izumi lied.

A noise that sounded suspiciously like a whimper came from Kouichi's throat, but he kept going.  It took several minutes for him to painfully climb up another ten feet or so before he slumped against the ladder.

"Kouichi, you can do it, it's just a few more steps."  Junpei said.  "I'll do some magic tricks for you when you're up."

" _Stop_ it, Junpei."  Kouichi's voice came through gritted teeth.

"Eh?"

"It's distracting.  Please stop."

Junpei's expression turned into a hurt _I was only trying to help_ look, but he didn't say anything more.  Kouichi started climbing again, getting closer and closer to the top until finally Takuya was able to reach out and grab his hand.

"Gotcha!"

He pulled the other boy up onto the ledge, only to back off as Kouichi clapped a hand to his mouth, pulling to one side as his stomach finally gave in.  Izumi and Junpei climbed up just as Kouichi finished, then he slumped over, narrowly missing the mess he’d made.  Takuya was instantly at his side, turning him over and trying to remember all the first-aid things his father had taught him. He mentally went down the parts of the list that he remembered.  _Is he still breathing?  Yes._ A raspy gasping sort of breath, as if he’d been running for days, but he was still breathing.  _Pulse?  Obviously still going, if Kouichi's still breathing._ To make sure Takuya put a hand to Kouichi's throat.  _Fluttery, but settling_ , he thought before continuing.  _Eyes?  A bit glazed over, but still following my movements._   Kouichi still seemed conscious, if dazed.

"Is he going to be all right?"  Izumi asked.

"Think...so."  The words were slurred, but understandable.

"He needs some time to recover from all that, but he'll be okay."  Takuya leaned back a bit.  "Bokomon, is there some place we can take him while he recovers?"

“You can come to our house…” Bokomon started.

"We need to get him _home_ ," Junpei disagreed.  "He'll be better off recovering at a hospital than here."

"You can't just leave now!"  Bokomon snapped.  "Kouichi has the Spirit of Fire, the only thing that can stop Cherubimon!  He has to protect this world!"

Everyone stared at him.

"Who says we have to stay here?"  Junpei asked pointedly.  "Number one, Kouichi's in no condition to do _anything_.  Number two, we're just kids.  Saving the world is something for grown-ups who know what they're doing.  Number three, we have to get home now anyway.  My mom would _freak_ if she knew I was here."

"Mine, too," Kouichi croaked.

"But, you must!"  Bokomon protested.  "You're our only hope!  Neemon, get over here and help me beg!"

The yellow rabbit Digimon tilted his head.  "Eeh?"

"I hate to disappoint you, but we're still just kids," Junpei said.  "What's the best way out of here?"

"You'd have to find a Trailmon, but..."  Bokomon's eyes were welling up with tears.

"Great, who's ready to go home?"

...

Junpei knew the other kids wanted to go home as much as he did.

_So why are they staring at me like I've lost my mind?_

"Can't," Kouichi said.  "My brother's here, I have to find him."

"And he's exhausted, so we can't leave him."  Izumi smiled beautifully and held up her Digivice.  "Besides, I'm interested in these Spirit things."

"And I want to know why we were sent here," Takuya added.  "And who that weird lady was."

"You're all insane!"  Junpei blurted.  "Don't you understand?  Kouichi's not looking too good, we have to get him to a _real_ doctor.  And just in case you missed it, this Cherubimon wants to _kill us all!_ "

There was silence.  None of the others looked him in the eye.

"You're crazy," Junpei repeated.  "I'm going home!"

He turned and walked off, but only made it around the corner of the nearest building before his conscience caught up to him.

_What am I doing?_ He thought.  _They all look like they're younger than me, and Kouichi is exhausted.  I shouldn't be leaving without them..._

The thought of the beautiful Izumi in trouble, without him around to help her, quickly sapped his enthusiasm to leave.

_Izumi's counting on me..._

But what was to stop them from abandoning him once everything was over?  Junpei could almost feel the rain and worse, hear the thunder from that day.

_Oh sure_ , the cynical side of him argued.  _Try and win them over with cheap magic tricks.  They'll just dump you just like those guys from camp..._

"Shut up," he whispered.  "You're wrong!"

Who was to say that Takuya, Kouichi, and especially Izumi were like the boys at that camp?  Those boys wouldn't have even waited for Kouichi to climb out of the pit; they would have been running for the nearest way home in tears.  In fact, they'd have been trying to sell Kouichi out even before, when that dog-monster showed up.  Not many people would have the nerve to face down a monster like that and _win_.

_They didn't leave me..._

So, why was _he_ leaving _them?_

_I can't._

Junpei turned and retraced his steps back to where the others were.  They hadn't moved in the thirty-odd seconds that his internal struggle had taken, but Kouichi, who was struggling to sit up with the assistance of Takuya, saw him first.

"Junpei?"

"I forgot I owe you some magic tricks," Junpei said in what he hoped was a casual voice.  "Besides, you need help finding your brother, right?  I'll stay with you until you find him."

" _Commozione!_ "  Izumi wrapped her arms around him in an unexpected hug, making him blush.

_No,_ he thought.  _They aren't like the boys from camp._

With night fast approaching, Takuya and Junpei half-carried Kouichi between them, following Bokomon’s directions down a twisted maze of metal buildings.   Every now and then, Junpei noticed other Digimon watching them, mostly those little white jellyfish-things which Bokomon called Poyomon, and small unpleasant-looking puffballs, called Pagumon.  Bokomon warned them to stay away from those, saying that they were ravenous, and would attack anything that even seemed to have food.  Aside from those creatures, the city seemed practically abandoned.  Bokomon pointed out that the abandonment was most likely due to the terminal no longer being an island in the sky.  Finally, they arrived at Bokomon’s home, another squat metallic building clearly not made for humans.  The two beds inside were barely big enough for Kouichi if they were put together and if he curled up.  Kouichi croaked that he was too tired to really mind.  After they put him in the bed, Izumi spoke up.

“Is there any food here?  I’m getting hungry.”

“I have some chocolate, if you want.”  Junpei started searching his pockets, hoping that his father’s samples hadn’t melted in all the chaos.

_I should save a piece for Kouichi_ , he thought.  _That climb was probably a nightmare for him, and it’ll cheer him up_.

“That’s really sweet, Junpei,” Izumi said.  “But I want something more substantial.”

“There is a tree of Foudre apples just outside the city,” Bokomon replied.  “The apples just became ripe, and they’ll be easier to get to now that the city’s Digicode has been restored.”

“I’m in.”  Izumi stood up.

“Me too.”  Takuya gave a slightly guilty glance to Kouichi’s motionless form, and then turned away.  “Never mind, someone needs to stay with Kouichi.  You guys go.”

Junpei was very tempted to go, after all it was with _Izumi_.  But…

“I’ll stay here.  You go.”

“Junpei?”  Takuya blinked at him in surprise.

“I’m the oldest, right?  I’m responsible for you guys.  So I’ll stay here with Kouichi.”

“I thought you wanted to be with Iz…” Takuya began.  Fortunately, Junpei was close enough to subtly kick him in the shin before he could finish that word.

“Of _course_ I want us all to be with this apple-picking thing, but Kouichi’s too tired.  You guys get a lot of apples for us, right?”

Takuya stuck his tongue out at him as he rubbed his shin.

“C’mon, mister maturity.”  Izumi grabbed Takuya’s ear.  “Let’s go!”

She dragged him gently out the door, followed by Neemon and Bokomon, who picked up a large basket on the way out.  Junpei watched them go wistfully.

“You don’t have to stay with me, you know.”

Junpei jumped.

“Oh, Kouichi.  I didn’t know you were still awake.”

“Not quite, but I can’t sleep.  I think it’s the leftover adrenaline from earlier.”

Junpei was tempted to ask which incident he meant, but decided not to.

"What's it like?  Becoming a Digimon, I mean."

A slight twitch came from the head of the bed.  Junpei could see the blue eyes peering out from under the blanket.  _He definitely looks better_ , he thought.  Kouichi's face had regained some color, the eyes were brighter and didn't look so lifeless like they had after his climb.

"Strange.  Like I'd become fire.  Like passion was my weapon, and it could beat anything."

Junpei moved to sit down next to the bed, leaning back against the wall.

"Do you think there's a Spirit waiting for me?"  He asked.

"Don't know, but you've got a Digivice..."  The soft voice trailed off.  "I wonder if Kouji has one?"

"Kouji?"

"The brother I was looking for."

"He's here too, right?"

"I think so."  There was a slight pause.  "I wonder if Dad told him anything about me.  I know Japanese divorce laws are pretty much complete severance, but he's never noticed me following him."

"Wait, _what?_ "  Junpei turned to look at Kouichi.  "You've been following him around like some kind of _stalker?_ "

"I _told_ you," Kouichi snapped with more heat than Junpei had seen him use before, "I was _trying_ to get him somewhere where we were alone!"

There was a stunned silence for several seconds.

"I..."  Kouichi stuttered, withdrawing into the blankets.  "...Sorry."

"No, it's okay."  Junpei tactfully decided to change the subject.  "Hey, I still owe you some magic tricks, right?"

"Sorry, I'm not in the mood for it."  Kouichi flinched.  "My stomach still hurts a bit.  But, I'd like to see them someday.  I always thought that sort of thing was cool."

"So did I."  Junpei leaned back a bit.  ""It always made people happy..."

_And they liked me_ , his thoughts continued, _but it never lasted long_.  Out loud he added "...And I liked picking up new tricks."

"I thought of learning it once, but even if I did it wouldn't help much."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not good at pushing myself forward.  If I learned how to do tricks like you, I wouldn't be able to do them in front of other kids."

"Oh, don't worry about it.  You don't need an audience to know how to do it.  I can teach you, if you want.  I can be your audience, too."

"Thanks, Junpei."

Kouichi said nothing after that for a while, but just as Junpei thought the younger boy had drifted off into sleep, he spoke again.

"Hey, I was wondering.  Do you like Izumi?"

Junpei felt the heat rising in his cheeks.  "What?"

"Izumi.  Do you like her?  Because of the way you were acting around her earlier.  You were blushing when she hugged you."

"I do, but..."  Junpei struggled to find the right words.  "I can't tell her or anything.  I don't want her thinking I'm some kind of idiot who blurts out everything at the start.  Just because I think she's pretty doesn't mean she'll think the same way about me."

Kouichi pulled his head back into the blanket.

"I don't really know her, but I think she might figure it out herself soon, if she hasn't already."

"I know.  It's just that the thought of actually going up to her and going 'Izumi, I think you're really pretty and I like you' scares the heck out of me.  Besides, I've only known her for a couple of hours now.  I'd look like a complete weirdo."

"Good point."  Kouichi rolled over and didn't say anymore, but that didn't stop Junpei from thinking about the subject.

_Maybe Izumi already has a boy she likes_ , he realized.  _And he's probably nicer and cuter than I am.  But again, maybe she doesn't.  She can't be older than a fifth grader.  She's probably too young to even be thinking about all this, and so am_ I _!  I shouldn't be thinking about it.  We have other things to worry about_.

_But, she's still so pretty_.

About a half-hour later, the door opened and the others came back in, Takuya and Izumi carrying an almost-full basket of odd-looking yellow fruit between them.

"Is Kouichi awake?"  Izumi asked.

"Yeah," Junpei glanced at Kouichi as he pulled himself to a sitting position.

"Feeling better, Kouichi?"  Takuya held up a piece of fruit.  "You up to eating dinner?"

"I don't know, I still feel a bit nauseous, I'll wait and see."

"What is that?"  Junpei asked getting up and leaning over the basket to see the contents.  The fruit reminded him vaguely of a cross between an apple and a mango, with a waxy coating like a cucumber.

"A foudre apple," Bokomon said.  "And don't even think about eating one before it's cooked."

"They taste like grass," Neemon said with a sour expression on his face.

"Well, you _were_ the one who tried eating it raw," Izumi said as Bokomon picked a few of them up and out them into what looked like an oven by the far wall.

"They'll take a few minutes to cook," he said.  "So Izumi, you were telling me about this 'Italy?'"

"Italy?"  Junpei repeated.  Wasn't that a country in Europe?

"Bokomon didn't know there were other countries on Earth," Izumi told him.  "My family was in Italy for almost five years."

_I thought she said some funny-sounding words earlier_ , he thought in surprise.  _She's beautiful_ and _smart!_

Out loud, he said "Italy, huh?  That's really cool.  What's it like there?"

"Depends on where you go," Izumi said sitting down on a nearby cushion.  "We mostly lived near Rome, but northern Italy is a lot different from southern Italy.  We went to Turin once and it was almost like another country!"

Izumi went on and on about Turin, but Junpei quickly stopped listening.  Her sweet smile and shining eyes made her even more beautiful, if that was possible.  All Junpei could think of was how he didn't want anything, or anyone, to take that smile away from her.

All of a sudden, the oven lit up in a silent explosion as lightning bolts crackled around the oven like little ants.  Junpei felt his mouth go dry at the sight, recalling that rainy day.  His pulse pounded in his ears and he tasted the acrid scent of charred wood once again.  The sensation was too much for him, and his faltering nerve finally failed him.  He bolted for the door, not even thinking about anything other than getting away from the lightning.  Junpei's panicked flight took him as far as the building across the paved courtyard before collapsing against a wall in a shuddering heap.

_That was too close_ , he thought as rational thought returned.  _But, the others, they're still in there!_

But, how could he rescue the others if he was too afraid to even move?

"Junpei?"  Izumi.  He hadn't seen her leave the building.  And now she'd judge him for his fear, the same as everyone else did...

"Are you going to be all right?  Bokomon didn't get a chance to tell you that they give off lightning when they cook."

_'Are you all right?' That's what she asked Kouichi after that climb_ , he thought.  _But it's different, he can face his fears._

_But it wasn't different_ , his conscience reminded him.

"Sorry," he said.  "That took me by surprise."

He tried to laugh, but it came out as forced.

"Did it scare you?"

"Of course not," he lied.  "I told you, it just took me by surprise."

"I guess so."  Izumi held up a Fourdre apple, which was now red and peeling revealing blue pulp inside.  "The apples are done.  They taste _molto delicioso._ "

"Thanks."  The absolute terror faded quickly away in the warmth of her smile.

"So, could you tell me more about Italy?"  Junpei asked the question more because she seemed happier talking about Italy as he took a bite from the apple.  In spite of the lightning, it didn't taste anything like it was burned; rather it tasted similar to roasted potatoes, a little at least.

"What do you want to know about?"  This time Izumi's smile was so dazzling that he could only blush.

"Everything," he blurted.  _Why did I say that?  I should have said something smarter..._

Izumi actually laughed, and for a horrible moment he thought it was at how stupid he sounded.

"I've never met someone who wanted to know 'everything' about Italy," she said.  "In fact, none of the other Japanese kids even seemed interested."

"First time for everything."  Junpei said, feeling the heat rushing to his head.  Maybe he _was_ interested in hearing about Italy after all.

A loud crackling sound was the only warning they got as something bright blue and yellow swooped out of the night sky.

_"Thunder Storm!"_

Junpei felt the hair on the back of his neck rise, then Izumi pushed him down as the wall behind them was wreathed in lightning.

_No_ , Junpei thought as he started to shake.  _Not again, not again!_

He could see that the creature attacking them was some kind of giant bird, but the lightning crawling over its feathers like caterpillars made looking at it more than he could bear.  He could hear Izumi yelling at him, trying to pull him back on his feet, but he couldn't move.  His muscles were locked by sheer terror.

" _Spirit...Evolution!_ "

Then the horrifying monstrosity was out of sight, flying at Kouichi...no, _Agnimon_.

"Junpei!  Izumi!"  Takuya, followed by Neemon and Bokomon, came running over.  "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," Izumi retorted.  Junpei felt her hand tighten on his shoulder for one moment.  "That thing just started shooting at us!"

"What?"  Bokomon interjected.  Junpei realized he had a book out and was flicking through it rapidly.  "That can't be right!"

"What do you mean by that?"  Takuya leaned over him to look at the book, only to have Bokomon snap it shut.

"Thunderbirmon aren't even native to this area!  They're from the _Thunder_ country!  What is he doing in the Fire Lands?"

_Thunderbirmon?_   Junpei managed to swallow down his fear long enough to actually look at their attacker.  It was huge, easily the size of his family apartment.  Blue and yellow with jagged stripes everywhere, and a lighning bolt horn on the top of its head.  Every time it flapped its wings, more lightning flew off, reminding him even more unpleasantly of that day in camp.  He shuddered and looked away again.  

"Who are you?"  Agnimon's voice rang clear.  "Why are you trying to kill us?"

There was a contemptuous pause before the Thunderbirmon spoke.

"How could the Spirit of Fire bond with a mere human?  Cherubimon's not finished with you, foolish child."

"He's not, but I am," was Agnimon's response.

Junpei opened his eyes to see Agnimon summon two streams of fire which wrapped around his arms.

" _Burning Salamander!_ "

The streams were released as fireballs aimed at the Thunderbirmon, who dodged them easily.

"You can't beat him like that," Bokomon yelled.  "Thunderbirmon are too agile!  You have to get in close!"

The Thunderbirmon grinned smugly and flew up higher.

"Try and get me, groundworm!"

"Nice going," Takuya groaned.

"But, if Agnimon's Kouichi, with Kouichi's mind..."  Izumi began.  Junpei felt the blood drain from his face as comprehension hit him.

_...He'll have Kouichi's fear of heights_ , he realized.

Sure enough, Agnimon didn't seem too interested in leaving the ground.  He lobbed off a few more fireballs, which the Thunderbirmon dodged, then tried jumping on a nearby building.  The instant he was up however, his eyes widened as he realized how high up he was and he sank to the roof beneath him in a huddled ball.

_He's a sitting duck up there_ , Junpei thought.

"Kouichi, get down from there!" Izumi apparently had the same thought, but Agnimon didn't move.

"He's too scared to move."  The words were out of Junpei's mouth before he could hold them back.  He felt the eyes of the others on him, but all he could think of was how Kouichi must have been feeling.

_Legs shaking too hard to move without falling, stomach in a knot, breath feeling like it's being squeezed out of my lungs, mouth too dry to say anything..._

He knew that feeling all too well.

He was experiencing it himself.

" _Thunder Storm!_ "  The Thunderbirmon launched what looked like a million bolts of lightning at Agnimon.  Junpei had to close his eyes and bite his lip to keep from screaming, but he couldn't keep from whimpering softly at the sound; the crack of lightning, Agnimon screaming, someone-Izumi-yelling Kouichi's name, a loud explosion.  

Somehow the silence that followed was even worse.

Junpei opened his eyes  to see Agnimon lying on the ground in front of them, who shrank into an exhausted, semi-conscious Kouichi as the Thunderbirmon hovered over him.  
"Foolish child, to be controlled by your fears.  But that doesn't matter.  Soon you'll be Digicode for Cherubimon and I'll be rewarded.  Maybe Cherubimon will reward me with the Spirits of Thunder!  But first..."  It turned a baleful eye on Junpei and the others.  "I'll deal with these pests."

Something in Junpei wanted to scream and run, something else wanted to hold still as a statue and hope it didn't see him.  Yet, even as he turned he could see the fear on Izumi's face.  If that thing hurt her...

But, that wasn't going to happen.

He saw Kouichi's Digivice lying where it had apparently fallen not far from them.

_It wants the Spirit, right?  If I take that, it'll follow me and leave Izumi and the others alone..._

Junpei was terrified that the Thunderbirmon would see him before he could start his plan, that he'd trip and fall due to his knocking knees or vomit from sheer terror as Kouichi had earlier.  But somehow, _somehow_ , he ran across the ruined pavement and grabbed Kouichi's Digivice without anything happening.

"Junpei, what are you _doing?_ "  Kouichi's eyes were wide in shock.  Junpei ignored him, turning to the Thunderbirmon.

"You want this, right?"  For the first time in his life, the tremor that normally overtook his body at the thought of lightning didn't reach his voice.  "Come and get it.  I'm Junpei Shibayama, I'm afraid of lightning, and I'm _terrified_ of you.  But, I won't let you hurt the others."

Junpei turned and ran off as fast as he could through the maze of buildings.  He heard the Thunderbirmon screech in fury behind him, then the crack of lightning narrowly missing him as he rounded a corner.

_I'm so dead_ , he thought as he continued running.  _Looks like the lightning's gonna get me this time, but at least Izumi and the others are safe, and I won't have to worry about being scared anymore._

Something caught his attention just then, it took him a moment to realize that the flash of light was coming from the Digivice.  Not Kouichi's Digivice still in his hand, but the one in his pocket that had been his cell phone.  The Thunderbirmon flew into view over a nearby building, with lightning sparking all over it, but somehow Junpei was not afraid.  Then he realized that the ground beneath him was giving off the same light as his Digivice.

_What...?_

The Thunderbirmon hesitated in confusion as something phased out of the ground, something that looked like a bust of a man in wolf armor.

_Is that a Spirit?_ He thought.  _It must be, but is it for me?_

"How did you find that?"  The Thunderbirmon demanded.  "Our forces searched everywhere, how did a mere human find a Spirit without even looking?"

"I guess I'm just lucky," Junpei said pulling out his Digivice.  The Spirit unravelled into that shimmery stuff Bokomon called Digicode and went into it.  Junpei could now see its picture on the screen.  The light wrapped around him, giving him the courage to face his fear.

" _Spirit...Evolution!_ "

...

Izumi whispered every dirty word she could think of, in Japanese, Italian, even the one or two words she knew in English, under her breath.

"Where did he go?"  Takuya asked, helping a limping Kouichi to his feet.

Izumi didn't wait for Kouichi's response, taking off at a run in the direction she'd seen Junpei go.

_Idiota_ , she thought as she ran.  _Why did you do it?_

But she already knew the answer.  _He didn't want to see any of us hurt, so he decided that he should get hurt instead.  That self-sacrificing testardo hardheaded idiota!_  
She had to find a way to save him.  A Spirit of her own.  Maybe Agnimon would let her use him, like he had with Kouichi...

A pillar of white light shot up to the heavens a few blocks away.

_Junpei!_

Izumi arrived at the fading pillar to see the Thunderbirmon hovering in front of Junpei, who was holding a glowing Digivice in the air.

" _Spirit...Evolution!_ "

_Wait, he can use Kouichi's Spirit?_   She thought as Digicode engulfed him.

But what stepped out was what looked something like an incredibly buff man in wolf armor.

" _...Wolfmon_!"

_That's not Agnimon.  What is going on?_

Loud panting behind her heralded the arrival of the others.

"It's a Spirit!"  Bokomon's eyes lit up in sheer delight.

"Wait, what happened to Junpei?"  Takuya suddenly made the connection.  "Don't tell me..."

"I think it is Junpei," Kouichi said softly.

"It is," Izumi could not take her eyes off the vision before her.

"He Evolved," Neemon added.

"He's the Legendary Warrior of Light, Wolfmon!"  Bokomon flipped through his book.  "A noble, kind-hearted Digimon in spite of his fearsome appearance.  His attacks are Licht Sieger and Licht Kugel."

The Thunderbirmon quickly turned and started flying away.

"Where are you going?"  Junpei... _Wolfmon_ asked.  "Are you afraid of me?"

"More likely he's going to report to Cherubimon," Bokomon replied tartly.  Wolfmon didn't hear him, bounding to a nearby roof then bouncing from roof to roof after the Thunderbirmon with an agility that put Agnimon to shame.  The Thunderbirmon realized that Wolfmon was catching up with it and started glowing again.

" _Thunder Storm!_ "

This time, Wolfmon didn't even flinch.  He jumped over the explosion, somehow managing to grab the Thunderbirmon's tail feathers, then used them to swing up to the Thunderbirmon's back as it shrieked in pain.

" _Licht Sieger_!"

Wolfmon drew an object his hip which expanded into a kind of lightsaber, and plunged it into the Thunderbirmon's back.  The Thunderbirmon shrieked once before it unraveled into Digicode.

"Evil being," Wolfmon held up his Digivice.  "Let the light show you a new way.  Digicode... _Scan!_ "

The Thunderbirmon's Digicode streaked into Junpei's Digivice, and then it was gone.  A lone egg drifting off into the night was all that was left.

"Junpei!"  The words were out of Izumi's mouth before she knew it, as she ran over to him.  The Digimon (Junpei?  Wolfmon?) turned to her with a goofy grin that could only be Junpei's.

"I did it, Izumi!  I Evolved!"

"You were _molto_ cool!"

If anything, Wolfmon's grin grew even larger.

"We can't stay here much longer," Bokomon interrupted.  "Cherubimon will be sending more Digimon out to look for us, especially when he finds out Thunderbirmon got Scanned, so we have to leave the terminal.  _Now_."  

Wolfmon's face fell.

"I still think you were awesome," Izumi said reaching out to touch his arm.  A blush appeared on the humanlike part of Wolfmon's face, and his grin came back bigger than before.

"I...yeah, I am," he said.  Then Bokomon cut the moment short.

"I have to pack, get the food, the blankets...Neemon, what are you doing sitting there?  Go and grab something to carry everything!"

Neemon tilted his head "Eeh?"  

Bokomon looked up at Wolfmon.  "And _you're_ bigger than anybody is right now.  You're helping, too.  Got that?"

"Right," Wolfmon sighed as he struck a heroic pose.  "Bring it on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a bit of trouble writing the end. Then again, I usually do. Either way, I'm not completely satisfied with it, but I wanted to get this chapter finished so I could focus on the next one.
> 
> Also, this is the last chapter I had written, so there will likely not be any new ones for a few months. I could be wrong, though. I have the approximate outline for the next one planned, I need to find the time to write it.
> 
> Anyway, to translate the Italian Izumi uses, "che terribile" is Google translate's translation of "How awful," "Testardo is "Stubborn." "Fourdre" is French for...either "Thunder" or "Lightning," I can't remember which one.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Kouichi yawned and struggled to boot up his brain. Even after...how many hours of rest? He still felt worn out. Bokomon had said something about how using the Spirit twice in a row was catching up to him, but he couldn't remember clearly. Everything after Junpei had defeated the Thunderbirmon and they had left the Flame Terminal had swiftly become a blur as the adrenaline rush, both from the fights he'd been in and that horrible climb out of the basement, had worn off.

He opened his eyes to see a wispy, clouded sky bordered by gently swaying trees. If he listened, he could hear the sound of voices arguing loudly off in the distance. They sounded suspiciously like Takuya and Izumi.

_I wonder what they're yelling about?_

Kouichi reluctantly picked himself up and shuffled off into the milky sunlight to eye the two arguers with a bemused expression. Takuya and Izumi faced each other, reminding him of a pair of boxers in the ring. To complete the image, Junpei, Neemon, and Bokomon watched from the side.

"We have to go for it." Takuya was saying. "That lady's the only one who knows what the heck is going on."

"How do we do that?" Izumi retorted. "Bokomon said it's on the next _continent_. Besides, how do we know she's one of the good guys? For all I know, she's working for Cherubimon."

"What are they talking about?" Kouichi asked.

Junpei turned to him. "Kouichi, you're awake! They're talking about that woman who was talking over our Digivices earlier. While you were sleeping, she contacted us again and said something about a 'Forest Terminal,' but got cut off before she could say any more. Bokomon says it's a long way from here, but Takuya thinks we should go. Izumi thinks we need to find more about what's going on first. Like why we were brought here."

"Oh." Kouichi glanced from Takuya to Izumi as they continued to bicker. Izumi had a point; they didn't know anything about that woman, but she seemed to know everything about them. _Come to think of it,_ he thought, _how did the woman know that I was looking for Kouji?_

Then again, it didn't seem likely that she was working for Cherubimon. If she had, wouldn't she have lured them into a trap they couldn't get out of, or brought them straight to Cherubimon? And for that matter, why mention that Kouji was there in the first place? To keep him there? But...

"Kouichi, you're finally awake!"

Izumi's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"You really slept in, it's past noon..."

"Of _course_ he did," Bokomon interrupted rudely. "The Spirits are supposed to be very draining the first few times they're used, and he used his twice in one day."

"I didn't exactly have a choice there," Kouichi grumbled before yawning.

"Still tired?" Junpei asked sympathetically.

"Yeah."

"Me too. I'm hoping I'll wake up a bit more as the day goes on."

"Speaking of 'goes,' we need to decide what we're going to do." Takuya crossed his arms impatiently. "Now that Kouichi's awake, we can get this over with."

" _Idiota_ ," Izumi sighed. "Kouichi..."

"I know, I heard. We're deciding whether or not to go for the Forest Terminal, right?"

"It's very far from here," Bokomon pointed out. "It would take us days to get to the Woodlands."

"And like I said, we don't know who that woman is," Izumi added.

"I don't think she's working for Cherubimon," Kouichi said, as Takuya opened his mouth to start arguing again. "Wouldn't she have brought us right to him if she were? Besides, she seems to know a lot about us..."

" _Too_ much, if you ask me," Izumi flicked a strand of hair out of her face.

"I know. I think we should go there, because the woman seemed to know my brother."

"See?" Takuya threw his arm around Kouichi in an attempt at camaraderie. "Kouichi agrees with me."

Kouichi winced and gently pulled himself free. "Yeah, sure. Look, if what Bokomon says is true and there's a long way to go before we get there, that gives us a lot of time to change out minds. Maybe we'll find out more about the woman on the way there..."

... _And maybe I'll find Kouji_ , he added mentally.

"...And maybe we won't. It's worth a shot either way."

"He's right, Izumi," Junpei said. "We can find out what's going on while we're going there."

Izumi made a face. "All right, we're heading for the Terminal. But if there's any hint that that woman isn't on our side..."

"I get it," Takuya snapped. "Hey Bokomon, what's the nearest way there?"

"To the west." Bokomon looked up at the sun and pointed to his left. "I suspect it would be that way. But, it's dangerous for humans. You'd need someone to guide you..."

"Eh? Did you say it's dangerous?" Neemon put his stubby arms together nervously. "We're not going, are we?"

"Idiot!" Bokomon pulled back Neemon's waist band and "snapped" it. "Of course we're going. We have two Legendary Warriors to protect us. Besides, it's not like we were doing anything at the Flame Terminal..."

He was cut off as Kouichi's stomach growled a protest. Kouichi belatedly realized that he hadn't eaten anything since an apple the night before.

"But that can wait until after Kouichi gets something to eat," Bokomon finished.

"There's some apples left over from last night, he can eat them as we walk." Takuya pushed by him and picked up a backpack. Kouichi vaguely remembered it as the one Wolfmon had been using earlier.

"Here, Kouichi. Take these and let's get going already."

"Um..." Kouichi looked down at the apples in Takuya's hands as he struggled to tactfully phrase his words.

Takuya glanced around and only then realized that everyone else was glaring at him.

"What? We've been sitting around all day, and Kouichi can walk and eat at the same time, right?"

"Did you _ask_ him if he wanted to eat like that?" Junpei asked pointedly.

Takuya paused for a moment, then his eyes widened and his cheeks turned red.

"We're supposed to be going to this Forest Terminal, we shouldn't be standing around all day."

"You _idiota impaziente_!" Izumi snapped. "You didn't even think to ask what Kouichi wanted. It's always about _you_ , isn't it?"

"What am I supposed to do? This world is depending on us, and if we stay in one place too long Cherubimon's goons are going to find us."

For one moment Kouichi was tempted to do what he'd always done: Slip off in the direction of quieter places, and let the others argue themselves out, but that was before.  Something, maybe it was the same firey passion that drove him to become Agnimon, came to vibrant life inside him.

_I've held back long enough..._

"That's _enough_!"

The others all turned and stared at him with varying expressions of shock on their faces.

"I can eat while we're walking. There's no need to argue over it."

Kouichi took a big bite from the apple to prove his point. The others exchanged glances, amazement still on their faces.

_What is so surprising? Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I don't get mad._

His temper quietly fumed while the others quickly got their gear together and they started off. Why were they so surprised at his sudden outburst? It wasn't like he was mute or anything, nor was it his fault he was quieter than the other kids in his class...

As time went by, Kouichi noticed a subtle change in the landscape around them; the scrawny trees and warm-colored flowers fading to pebbly ditches and scrubby bushes, then those turning into canyons with rocky ridges and pebbles occasionally dropping to the ground.

_I hope there aren't any landslides_ , he thought. _We could be buried before I even blink_!

"Um, Bokomon, is this place entirely safe?" Junpei asked. The older boy seemed to be have the same kind of nervousness at their surroundings that Kouichi was getting.

"Of course not! It's the quickest way to the Woodlands, but it's not very safe...."

"So why are you taking us through here?" Izumi demanded in a voice made even shriller by nerves.

"Because the 'safe' way goes directly through land controlled by Cherubimon. He'll probably have all his Digimon on alert looking for humans, and unless you can somehow convince them that you're Digimon that _somehow_ look exactly like humans, you have less of a chance going that way."

"Oh," Izumi still sounded a bit strained. "You could have told us that earlier."

"What difference would it make?"

"Well, we would have _known_ what we were getting into..."

"Guys, calm down!" Takuya oddly didn't speak quite as forcefully as he had the rest of the had the rest of the time Kouichi had known him. Maybe "Not as forceful" weren't the right words. _Calmer_ would have fit the bill better, although he hadn't known Takuya for very long...

"Making a lot of loud noises could set something off," Takuya continued. "It happens all the time in cartoons, so why can't it happen here?"

"Those are _cartoons_ ," Junpei retorted. "This is real life..."

"Yeah, but kids don't turn into _Digimon_ in real life," Takuya pointed out in the same calmer-than-normal voice. "Besides, shouldn't we be concentrating on getting the heck out of here?"

That shut the others up fairly quickly, and they resumed walking.

The rocks and ridges went on and on, giving Kouichi a slightly unnerving sense of claustrophobia. He glanced around at the others, seeing the tensed shoulders, the quicker way of walking, the lack of conversation.

_They feel it too_ , he thought. _Like something is about to happen_.

The sound of pebbles falling suddenly increased around them. Kouichi saw one falling only an inch from his arm.

"We need to get out of here," he said. "Bokomon, how much more is there to go?"

"I..." Bokomon was cut off as a rock that was much bigger than a pebble fell not far away from him.

"...We need to find shelter!" He finished.

"There's a cave over there!" Izumi cried, pointing at a nearby cliff. Kouichi could see the shadowed entrance to what looked like a fair-sized cavern, then it was back to running, feeling pebbles bouncing off his back, and hoping that the bigger rocks wouldn't hit him...

He made it to the cave inches ahead of Neemon, who nearly fell over in his haste to get away from the deadly rain, but the respite only lasted a split second as larger rocks fell down in the cave entrance. Kouichi grabbed Neemon and ran further inside even as the falling rocks covered the remaining light from outside.

"Is everyone okay?" Takuya's voice sounded oddly calm in the darkness.

"I'm all right," Kouichi said putting Neemon down.

"Me, too," the yellow Digimon added.

"I'm fine," Izumi sounded shaken. "Those rocks really hurt."

"I've got gravel in my ears," Bokomon grumbled. "That was too close!"

"I'm a bit bruised, but I'll live," Junpei sighed. "Here, let me get some light. Spirit... _Evolution_!"

Kouichi saw the light from the Digicode swirl around Junpei's silhouette, then Wolfmon in all his shining glory had to stoop a bit to avoid the ceiling.

"... _Wolfmon!_ "

Wolfmon's light illuminated the cave, showing that it widened into a downward-sloping tunnel and vanished around a bend. The entrance on the other hand was definitely closed off by very large rocks.

"I'll take out those rocks," Wolfmon said. "Stand back!"

Kouichi joined the others in retreating to the rear end of the cave as Wolfmon levelled the cannon on his arm at the rocks blocking the entrance.

" _Licht Kugel_!"

The boulders were blasted out of the way, only to be replaced by other boulders from above displaced by the force. Wolfmon stared over his arm cannon in surprise.

"That didn't do it, lemme try again. _Licht Kugel_!"

But the blast only made more rocks fall down into the still-blocked entrance.

"I think I might need more firepower." Wolfmon turned to Kouichi. "Kouichi, can you Evolve? I don't think I can do this alone."

Kouichi looked at the rocks, slight doubts on the effectiveness of blasting their way through warring with politeness and the lack of any other option.

"Are you _sure_ this is a good idea?" He asked. "Won't that just make more rocks fall?"

"Probably, but we can just blast 'em more, right?"

"Besides, we don't have many other options to get out of here," Takuya said.

Kouichi frowned, but he knew Takuya was right.  He pulled out his Digivice.

"Spirit... _Evolution_!"

Evolving to Agnimon took only a few seconds of normal time, but in those seconds he became fire in a way that would have been impossible to explain. His inner flames grew higher and higher, and finally found shape as a Legendary Warrior.

"... _Agnimon_."

As Agnimon, he lined up with Wolfmon facing the entrance and summoned his flames.

" _Burning Salamander_!"

" _Licht Kugel_!"

This time, the rocks didn't just come from over the cave entrance, they came down from the ceiling as well. Agnimon tried to dodge as many as he could while moving away from the entrance, but just as he was nearly was out of the range of falling rocks, a large rock caught him on the shoulder. Pain started shooting down the injury, and he de-evolved back into Kouichi. He clamped down on a scream which managed to leak out as a kind of gurgling moan.

It wasn't until then that he'd realized that the light from Wolfmon had also gone out and Junpei's pained whimpers were coming from a point to his left.

"Kouichi! Junpei!" Izumi's voice sounded very loud in the darkness. "Are you okay?"

"My ribs..." Junpei gasped out before stopping on another painful intake.

"I'll live," Kouichi managed to croak between spasms of pain. "I hurt my shoulder pretty badly, though."

"Okay, keep talking." Takuya's voice was oddly steady considering everything they were going through. "I'll find you."

"Find Junpei first," Kouichi said ignoring the screaming pain in his shoulder. "He sounds worse off than I am."

_Not that I'm much bette_ r, he finished mentally.

"Keep talking, Junpei," Takuya repeated. "Talk about something, anything. How much it hurts, what you had for lunch yesterday..." His voice took a sly tone. "Why you're scared of lightning."

"If I weren't...hurting like heck...I'd slug you for that one." Junpei gave a sigh and kept talking between painful breaths. "I never liked lightning, but...about four years ago, I was at...summer camp. Showed a bunch of boys...some magic tricks. They seemed to like it...they invited me to go hiking with them...a few hours later."

"Okay, sounds like I'm almost there." Some smaller rocks shuffled in the same direction as Takuya's voice not too far from where Kouichi was. "What happened then?"

"If I'd known they'd just...did that for a prank, I never...would have gone. They took me far away from the camp...and then just ran off on me."

" _Che terribile_!" Izumi exclaimed. "They got in trouble, right?"

"They were...completely expelled for leaving me like that. And for going out without telling...anyone in charge. And for going out...when there were thunderstorms in the area."

_He was stranded by himself in the woods during a thunderstorm?_ Kouichi thought. _I'm surprised he lived through that!_

The others seemed to have reached that conclusion, too. There was a stunned silence for a moment or two.

"You were hit by lightning?" Bokomon asked.

"No, but I nearly was. It hit a tree...about ten feet or so from where I was standing. Caught fire, too. _Ow_!"

"Sorry, Junpei." Takuya had evidently reached him. "This isn't easy without any light. Hey, wait, lemme try something..."

Several seconds later, a light illuminated Takuya's grimy but triumphant face from the Digivice he was holding. Kouichi could see Junpei lying next to him with his hands on his ribs.

"Okay, that's better." Takuya aimed the Digivice at Junpei. Kouichi could see that it was on the "No Data" screen. "Can you take your shirt off? It's easier if I see it."

"Not without...hurting myself, but I can get enough off..." Junpei began fumbling at his jumpsuit, pulling it open and then pulling up the orange shirt underneath. Takuya began gently pressing on the older boy's ribs.

"They don't feel broken or cracked, but I've never checked for broken ribs before. I think you might have just bruised them really badly. You're going to be black and blue for the next few days."

Kouichi remembered Takuya giving him a similar checkover the previous day, after that horrible climb.

"Where did you learn first aid?" He asked curiously.

"My dad. He's also my soccer coach in the local league, and he taught me how to check for things like that so I'd know what to do in an emergency. Okay, Junpei's gonna live. I have to check Kouichi."

Izumi picked her way through the rocks using her own Digivice for light, and sat down by Junpei's side.

"Junpei, I'm sorry you had to go through all that with the lightning. If I'd been there, I'd have punched those guys for leaving you like that."

Junpei's cheeks turned red.

"Izumi..."

"Okay Kouichi." Takuya settled down by Kouichi, getting his attention. "How's the shoulder doing?"

"Hurts pretty badly."

"Yeah. Here, can you take off your shirt?"

Kouichi gingerly started shrugging out of first the green overshirt, then the red T-shirt. He felt Takuya's hands against his shoulder and tried not to wince when the other boy hit a sensitive spot.

"That's funny. There's definitely bruises there, but your skin looks a bit funny, like it's fused with Digicode. Does it hurt right here?"

A small strangled shriek escaped Kouichi as Takuya somehow found an even more sensitive spot. The probing hand quickly withdrew.

"Sorry, Kouichi. It doesn't feel broken or dislocated, I'd say it's just more bad bruising but there's Digicode there..."

"Maybe because I was Agnimon at the time?"

"Maybe..." Takuya sounded a bit doubtful. "Maybe Agnimon took the worst of it for you, and it's like bruising for _him_?"

Kouichi imagined Agnimon with bruises all over his shoulder. Perhaps he was delirious from the pain, but he somehow found that image to be funny. He stifled a guffaw.

"Well, at least you have something to laugh about," Bokomon grumbled. "We're definitely in a sticky spot..."

"Sticky? Like jelly?" Neemon interrupted him.

" _Sticky_ like we're trapped in here. _Sticky_ like the Legendary Warriors are injured, and can't Evolve. _Sticky_ as in there's no way out, and I don't know how long the air in here is going to last."

Kouichi felt the blood drain from his face as he realized Bokomon was right. The air around them suddenly tasted stale, as if it was already running out.

_There's no way ou_ t, he thought. _We're trapped in here_...

He thought of his mother. What would she do if she never saw him again? If she lost him so soon after his grandmother had died? Would she lose all hope and simply fade out, or would she try to cling to something, _anything_ , to give her life? What about Kouji? He'd never get the chance to meet Kouji if he died like this. What would his grandmother think to see him like this?

_Grandma_...

A sharp clap brought Kouichi back to the present. He looked up to see Takuya on his feet, and somehow more... _in charge_ than Kouichi had seen him before.

"Okay, Izumi, Neemon. I want you two to stay with Junpei and Kouichi. Bokomon, you and I are going to follow the cave and see where it ends up. Everyone clear with that?"

"But..." Izumi began.

"No _buts_ , Izumi. Unless you want to come with me. This cave looks like it leads somewhere, possibly to another way out, and we can't find it if we're sitting here. Junpei's too badly injured to move, and I think Kouichi's the same. So I need someone to stay with them and make sure they're all right while Bokomon and I go look for another way out, okay?"

Izumi looked frustrated, but nodded. Takuya and Bokomon walked down to the end of the cave, and then out of sight.

" _Dannazione_!" Izumi finally exploded. "I feel so helpless here."

"Izumi..." Junpei reached up to pat her hand. "We'll be...all right. Don't worry, okay?

"He's right," Kouichi said wincing as a stray movement set off his shoulder again. "All we can do is wait for them."

But he hoped it wouldn't be for long.

...

The tunnel kept sloping down and down and down. Takuya found that to be slightly disturbing, as if there was no other way out...

_No, there has to be another way out. I have to remain calm, like Dad_...

They had been walking for a while, perhaps an hour at most.  Takuya decided he could use some conversation to not only take his mind off the situation, but to find more about this new world.

"Bokomon?"

"Yes?"

"What are Digimon like? I mean, I know you mentioned you guys grow into different power levels, like Child and Adult and stuff while we were picking those apples. What were the others called again? And what level are Agnimon and Wolfmon?"

"Weren't you listening? I said there were six forms. Baby One, Baby Two, Child, Adult, Perfect, and Ultimate."

"I _was_ listening," Takuya bristled at the implication that he didn't listen to anything. "You told us that the Baby forms look like blobs with faces like those Pagumon from yesterday. Then Izumi started talking about Italy and I got distracted. What are Agnimon and Wolfmon?"

"I don't know. Their size suggests Adults, however Agnimon took out Ceruberumon who was a Perfect. There were rumors that the Spirits could be even more powerful, but I never saw any proof of it."

"So you can tell how powerful something is by how big it is?"

"Sometimes, but not all the time. There are a lot of exceptions, such as Lucemon."

"Lucemon?"

"He was the tyrant the original Legendary Warriors fought. He was amazingly powerful, however supposedly when asked about it he stated he was only a Child. The legend has it that he was not much bigger than you humans."

"Oh."

They were silent for a few minutes, still following the tunnel down.

_At least it's not ending in a dead end_ , Takuya thought. _But I wish it would start going up_!

"What are other human forms like?" Bokomon asked. "I heard that humans had no Perfect or Ultimate forms, but that they did have Baby, Child, and Adult forms."

"We don't have forms, we just grow." _Although it would be cool if humans had forms_ , Takuya thought. _Then again, not having any arms or legs would really suck_.

"What you you mean 'we just _grow_ '?" Bokomon's eyes were huge with shock in the narrow light of Takuya's Digivice. "You mean, you're always growing until you _die_?"

Takuya blinked back an image of his grandfather being bigger than the biggest basketball players he'd seen on TV. The thought was so absurd that he let out a snort of laughter.

"Geez, if that were true, my grandfather'd be _huge_! No, we stop growing when we're adults."

As he said that, something occurred to Takuya. _I wonder if Bokomon knows what's going on with Kouichi's shoulder...?_

"Speaking of weird things, what's up with that Digicode stuff?"

"I told you, it's what makes the Digital World and everything in it."

"Yeah, I know. Do you know why Kouichi's shoulder had some Digicode in it after he got hurt?"

Bokomon was silent for a moment.

"I think it's because Kouichi's Digicode seems to be very...dense for some reason," he finally said.

"What's that mean?" Takuya asked suspiciously.

"That whenever his Digicode is revealed, it doesn't show as a ring around him like most Digimon, but rather shows on the skin."

"Eh? But we're not Digimon, we're humans. How can we have Digicode?"

"In order to be in the Digital World, you must be converted to Digicode. Someone must have converted you on the way here."

Now it was Takuya's turn to pause as he remembered the hectic journey to the Digital World. Now that he thought about it, he remembered seeing Junpei and Izumi almost glowing for one moment before phantom shapes had enveloped them. In fact, hadn't the one around Junpei looked sort of like Wolfmon? He tried to remember what the one around Izumi had looked like, but it had been too vague to see clearly.

"So what you're saying is that we're all now made of this Digicode stuff, and that Kouichi's Digicode is kind of like blood?"

"What's blood?"

"Never mind."

There was an ominous rumble off in the distance below them, knocking several small pebbles off of the wall. Takuya and Bokomon both jumped and yelped at the sound.

"This is not good!" Bokomon exclaimed. "If there's a cave-in, we're dead! We have to get back to the others.""

"We can't just give up now!" Takuya said. "We haven't found a way out yet. Besides, it was only a little shake."

"But, if we get killed here, what happens to the others?"

Takuya paused.

_Didn't Dad say that the best thing to do in an emergency is stay where you are?_ He thought. But that thought only made him realize how unprepared they were.

_No first aid supplies, very little food, no adults...I wish Dad were here. He'd know what to do._

Takuya realized that Bokomon was staring at him expectantly.

_I'm the leader here, aren't I?_

Being the leader wasn't a thought as much as it was an absolute conviction. None of the others knew how to take charge of a situation like he did, and he was the only one who knew anything about first aid.

Why s _houldn't_ he be the leader?

"Okay," he finally said. "We're going back. We can think of a way to get out of this once we're with the others."

The tunnel somehow seemed more claustrophobic than it had before. Takuya felt himself braced, expecting the walls around them to collapse at any moment.

_Don't be silly_ , he told himself. _It was just a little rumble off in the distance. I'm just being paranoid_...

The next rumble was much, much, closer, knocking Takuya and Bokomon off their feet and sending a lot of rocks falling to the floor.

"Cave-in!" Takuya yelped.

" _That_ wasn't an cave-in!" Bokomon snapped. "It's a Digimon! We have to run!"

"What...?"

But Bokomon was already running back up the tunnel. Takuya hesitated for an instant before following him, but just as he started to run he heard Bokomon scream. He looked up just in time to see the Digimon disappear down a rapidly expanding hole in the ground.

"Bokomon!"

The hole stopped growing about a foot from where Takuya stood, giving him a view of Bokomon about three feet below him clinging to a bit of rough rock. Below him was what looked like a huge chamber hollowed out of the surrounding stone.

"Takuya, help!"

"Bokomon, calm down!" Takuya gingerly began edging around the hole, looking for a safe way in, but he couldn't see one.

_Darnit, there's no other way!_

He delicately braced himself as firmly as possible, then reached out to Bokomon.

_Almost there, I just have to grab him_...

There was an odd sound, almost like rocks being dragged against other rocks, then the ground beneath him collapsed. Takuya tried vainly to grab at something, anything, to keep from falling, but his hands only touched empty air. Then someone else was screaming besides himself, Bokomon. Takuya had only a split second to realize that he'd been directly above the Digimon before he collided with him, knocking them both down, then it was back to falling.

Fortunately, the rounded walls sloped into the ground rather than going straight into them. The curvation broke their fall just enough that Takuya slid to the floor rather than fell on it. Then he slid into something else. Something that was not the wall...

It was big, about as big as a house. Big, green, and scaly, almost like a dragon, except for the two huge armlike protrusions that were where its wings should have been. A massive spiky ball was on its tail...

And it clearly did not appreciate the interruption. It turned to eye him balefully with a loud growl. Takuya yelped and scrambled to his feet, but there wasn't much room to run away. As far as he could see with the dim light of his Digivice, they were in a circular chamber with pockmarks in the lower half of the walls.

"What is _that_?" Takuya demanded as the Digimon pulled itself to its full height and roared.

"It's Groundramon!" Bokomon shrieked over the din. "They come from the Earth continent and eat gems. They tend to wander into the Fire lands to seek gems to eat, since the volcanoes around here produce a lot of gems!"

"Thanks for the biology lesson," Takuya ground out.

The Groundramon pulled itself to its full height and slammed itself to the ground. The attack caused the roof of the cave to collapse, sending dirt and rocks raining down on all of them. Takuya screamed as the mass engulfed him, then everything went black.

A breath. Inhaling nothing but dirt and dust. Another.

_I'm alive. But what about Bokomon...?_

_I have to get out of here...there's no air in here!_

_No, I can't panic. What would Dad do...?_

_But he's not here..._

_What do I do?_

_I can't panic. I have to keep calm and find a way out. If I can move my hands, I can just dig out..._

_Is it cold in here, or is it just me?_

Takuya realized that there was something in there with him, a presence that calmed and protected him. He felt rather than sensed the light that was coming from his Digivice, and the white Spirit that had entered it...

And then the dirt around him was gone, and he knew what to do.

"Spirit... _Evolution!_ "

...

The instant Bokomon realized that the Groundramon was about to attack, he started running. There was no time to warn Takuya, and no time to find shelter. He was surprisedthat, when the cave-in started, he was only buried to his waist in the debris. He took a moment to look for Takuya only to see nothing but rocks where the human had been standing.

_He's dead_ , Bokomon thought in shock. _Humans are such frail creatures, there's no way he could survive that_...

Bokomon considered himself very lucky to have not lost anyone he'd known for more than a casual acquaintance. One never knew when Cherubimon's Digimon would suddenly demand Digicode, and not care that there were Digimon living in the area. Still, the death of the human child he'd known for less than a day hurt him in ways he didn't care to admit.

_And I'm still in trouble_ , he thought as the Groundramon advanced on him with murder in its eyes.

The air suddenly felt cold, then there was light coming from underneath the rocks, which flew apart revealing a still-alive Takuya. With a glowing Digivice in the air...

" _Spirit...Evolution!_ "

Bokomon saw the human in silhouette, surrounding himself with a shell of Digicode.

_He's Evolving?! He...did he find a Spirit?_

What popped out was somehow even smaller than the human had been.

"... _Chakmon!_ "

_I was right, that's a Spirit.._.Bokomon realized. _He's a Legendary Warrior...of Ice_?

He scrabbled for his book and the entries on the Legendary Warriors. The Digimon looked just like the picture for the Warrior of Ice.

_Chakmon_ , he read. _A fun-loving ice bear. His attacks...Tsurarara, Kachi-Kachi Kochin, and Snow Bomber..._

_He doesn't look too intimidating._

The Groundramon took one look at the pint-sized Digimon and laughed.

"Don't underestimate me!" Chakmon's voice, a squeaker version of Takuya's, dripped indignation. "Just because I'm smaller than the others doesn't mean I can't kick your butt. _Snow Bomber!_ "

He summoned a large gun and started firing snowballs at the Groundramon. The projectiles bounced off of the scaly skin, causing the Groundramon to laugh even harder.

"Okay, how about this! _Kachi-Kachi Kochin!_ "

Chakmon took a deep breath and blew ice onto the Groundramon's legs. In the space of about two seconds, the two front legs were covered in ice, pinning them to the ground. As the larger Digimon struggled to pull itself free, Chakmon slid around to its back legs and froze them before sliding back to face the Groundramon.

" _Tsurarara!_ "

Chakmon leapt into the air and turned into an icicle that still had his face on it. Then he launched himself at his opponent's face. The Groundramon had no choice but to take the full force of the attack, exposing its Digicode. Chakmon re-formed a few feet away.

"Maybe some ice will help you cool down. Digicode... _Scan!_ "

The Groundramon shrieked as its Digicode disappeared into Chakmon's Digivice, then all was silent again.

Chakmon grinned idiotically as Bokomon approached him.

"How's _that?_ "

"You..." Bokomon could scarcely keep the fury out of his voice as he rushed to the Digimon/human. "Don't scare me like that!"

"What are you talking about?" Chakmon asked. "I was fine.  My Spirit protected me."

"Yes, but if he hadn't been there you would have died." An unpleasant thought occurred to him. "Besides, what about the others? I don't think all those earthquakes and rumblings did them any good."

Chakmon swore loudly. "The others! I forgot about them!"

...

With Chakmon's abilities, it didn't take the two of them very long to get back up into the tunnel, although he thought it felt like an eternity. He took the remaining feet at a slushy, sliding run, arriving at the spot where they had left the others completely out of breath, only to face Izumi with a large rock aimed at his head.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Izumi demanded irritably.

Chakmon took in the sight of her, Neemon, Kouichi, Junpei. None of them looked like anything had happened to them since he'd left. All of them looked alarmed, though.

_They're all all right! Well, not 'all right' right, but it doesn't look like anything happened to them since that first cave-in._

And he realized that the others had reason to act like that. What would he say if a three-foot-tall bear wearing funny clothes just ran in on him?

"Izumi, it's _me!_ "

"Huh?" Izumi glared at him suspiciously, the rock poised in her hands at a slightly lower level.

"It's Takuya," Bokomon panted, staggering in in behind him. "He found a Spirit and Evolved."

"Yeah, I became Chakmon, the Legendary Warrior of Ice," Chakmon explained hurriedly. There was this big Digimon called Groundramon, he was shaking the ground up pretty badly. But then I found my Spirit and Scanned him up good!"

" _You_ found a Spirit." Izumi repeated in a disbelieving voice. Takuya decided not to call her out on it, there were more important things to do...

"Yup, and I can get us out of here, too."

Chakmon faced the landslide blocking the entrance. As an Ice Digimon, all he had to do was freeze the rocks at the top while getting rid of the ones at the bottom.

_That shouldn't be too hard. Ice breaks rocks, right?_

Ice was also easily manipulated, too. Frozen water could come in any shape, so he compressed himself down into a puddle and pulled himself into the rocks. From there, it hardly took a second to break just the rocks he needed to, while keeping the rest frozen in place, and then he was out. Takuya felt the Digimon's form slide gently off him. And felt Izumi's hot resentful stare.

_What's her problem?_ Takuya thought irritably. _I'm the one that got us out. Besides, I'm the leader here._

But there were things that a leader had to do. Like check in on his injured comrades.

"Junpei, how are the ribs doing?"

"They hurt like heck, but it's not as bad as before."

"Let me check."

Fortunately, Junpei's ribs didn't seem any worse than they had before. With that out of the way, Takuya turned to Kouichi. The other boy still had his shirt off, although he'd thrown the overshirt over his shoulders.

_Probably too painful for him to put it back on._..

"All right. Kouichi, do you mind if I check your shoulder?"

Kouichi winced a bit as he pulled the overshirt off again. As he did, Takuya noticed that there was no longer any Digicode under the bruises that spread down his shoulder.

"Well, it's looking better. That Digicode has cleared up..." Takuya wished he had some children's aspirin or something for both the injured boys. "I've found out why it's there, too. Bokomon says that we all have Digicode now since we're in the Digital World, but that yours is kinda dense so it shows up on your skin rather than as a ring around you."

"Is that what happened?" Kouichi shuddered a bit as he painfully put the overshirt on again. "That's weird."

"What happens now?" Junpei asked. "We probably shouldn't stay here, with all the falling rocks..."

"We can't risk injuring either of you anymore," Izumi countered. "We should stay here for the night and see if you're good enough to walk in the morning.

Takuya felt righteous indignation growing in him at her words. _She's not the leader, I am! I should be the one to make those kinds of decisions!_

But as much as he hated to admit it Izumi was right.

_Dad says we shouldn't try to move the injured unless there's no other choice, right? I'll just let this one slide._

_For now_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it turns out I have more time to write this semester than I did last semester, and I promised myself that if I finished it by Spring Break, I'd upload it. My problem is that my inner muse has been more interested in other fics which haven't developed enough for me to publish them...but that's another story.
> 
> To translate Izumi's Italian, "idiota impaziente" means "Impatient idiot," and "Dannazione" means "Damn."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

Kouji scowled down at the map in his hands. Whoever had drawn it had no sense of scale, and had likely done the deed a very long time ago.

And it didn't help that Tomoki was trying to effectively read it over his shoulder.

"Where's the Forest Terminal?" The younger boy was practically standing on Kouji's foot trying to see the place where they were apparently supposed to go.

"West of here." Kouji irritably handed the younger boy the map in hope that he'd leave him alone.

"Really?" Tomoki looked at the map. "And we're here by the Leaf Junction..."

"Leaf" was probably more of a reference to the way the five sets of train tracks came together to a single point before continuing on than to any trees around it. The apparently outdated map only showed three tracks.

"...Looks like we still have a while to go," he finished, returning the map.

"Yeah."

Going by the scale of the map, it would take days for them to reach the so-called "Woodlands." According to the map, they were almost at the border of the Wind Kingdom and the Woodlands, but there was still a long way to go. Kouji knew first-hand how large the land was, he'd tried Evolving to Peregrimon and flying the first day with Tomoki in his arms. He'd been too exhausted to do more than fall asleep after three hours of flying. Fortunately, there had been a Piyomon village in landing range where they'd stayed for the night.

_It's a good thing Dad likes to camp_ , Kouji thought eyeing the setting sun. _We should probably make camp soon._

He had learned a lot about this Digital World over the past two days since they had left the Floramon village. Barring the Digimon, it wasn't that different from home. There were still roads, the lakes and pond still had fish in them (a fact that had made Tomoki pass up on dinner the first night since he'd believed that the fish were sentient like the Floramon.) There were still berries and fruits hanging from the trees. It practically was camping without Dad or Satomi to make him do anything like "family bonding."

It would almost be perfect if Tomoki weren't there.

"Are we going to camp here?" The boy in question asked. "I mean, it's starting to get late."

Kouji did not reply, instead looking around for something they could use as a relatively safe shelter. The area around the junction was too open for his taste, especially for a place that was supposed to be full of flying Digimon.

_There's a fallen tree over there_ , he noticed. _It's hollow, and big enough that we can sit in the trunk. No fire, though_...

"That tree there. We'll use that."

"But there's no room for a fire," Tomoki protested.

"There's no other shelter anywhere that I can see. It's either no fire or we keep walking."

"But..." Tomoki paused, then was silent. As much as Kouji disliked the thought of sleeping in cramped quarters with the younger boy, there was no other choice. Fire was not something one used in a wooden shelter. Fortunately, the fallen tree was big enough that there could be a few inches between them. And so they sat in the hollow log staring at the pale moonlight filtering in.

"Hey, Kouji?"

"What?"

"I miss my mom."

Kouji rolled his eyes. If he had a cup of water for every time the other boy said that, he'd have enough to fill a good-sized pond. Tomoki didn't see the gesture.

"I miss my brother, too, even though he doesn't like me that much. Do you have any brothers, Kouji?"

"No."

"Any sisters?"

"No."

Tomoki was silent for a moment.

"I have a big brother. His name's Shinichi, and he's going into college next year."

What was Kouji supposed to say to that? He decided to stay silent.

"He keeps yelling at me because I'm in the way..."

Was the kid fishing for sympathy or something? Kouji stifled a silent groan of pure agony.

"But I wish he was here now. He'd do a big research project on this place, and get into a big college. They'll call him 'Professor Himi.' and he'd go on big adventures exploring the Digital World, like in the movies. And maybe he'd make me his sidekick."

"This is real life, you know." Kouji turned so that he was facing the open end of the log, his back to the other boy. "There's no way he'd let a kid like you join him."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't talk about it. Besides, we're here and Shinichi isn't."

The silence between them stretched again.

"You don't talk a lot, do you Kouji?"

"No."

More silence. It sounded almost as if Tomoki was trying to find something to talk about.

"Do you have any pets?"

"Why are you so eager to talk about me?" Kouji demanded irritably.

"Because _you_ don't talk about you! I _know_ it's rude, but I've known you for three days and you haven't said one word about your family!"

"I shouldn't have to!"

"I know, but if you're going to be my big brother while we're here, then I want to know more about you." Tomoki took a ragged breath. "I'm sorry, I'm being a pain again. Just ignore me."

"I have a dog."

Tomoki blinked back tears in surprise.

"You...what?"

"I have a dog. He's a German Shepherd named Garm. He's just a puppy, though. He hasn't learned to control his own strength yet, and always pulls me over when I walk him."

"I've never had a dog, Dad's allergic to them. What's he like?"

"Big. He's nearly fully grown. He's smart, too. He's figured out how to open the door if we leave it unlocked." Kouji found himself smiling a bit at the memory. The shocked expression on his stepmother's face when Garm had done the trick in front of her, proving once and for all that it wasn't just someone accidentally leaving the door open, had been priceless.

"Wow. I want a dog when I'm old enough that I can live on my own."

"German Shepherds are not for beginners." Kouji leaned back a little. "Get a smaller dog if you're just starting. Dad had dogs before, and made sure I could handle Garm before he let me get him."

"What kind of dog should I get? I mean, when I'm old enough."

"Something smaller. Beagles are popular, and probably won't be big enough to pull you down."

Granted, by the time Tomoki got old enough to live on his own, he'd be big enough to handle most dogs. He might not be interested in dogs anymore, either.

"When we get home," the younger boy said through a yawn. "Could I meet Garm? Please? I promise I won't do anything like pulling his ears."

"If you want." Kouji sighed reluctantly. "But we have to get home first."

"I know." There was a slight pause. "Goodnight, Kouji."

A grunt was the only response.

The next day found the two boys following the train tracks west through windy fields. Tomoki entertained himself by balancing on the rails as he walked.

"Hey Kouji? I'm getting hungry."

"You're going to have to wait. I don't see any sign of water, let alone fish, and there aren't any berry bushes around."

"I know, but I'm _really_ hungry."

"You ate the leftovers those Piyomon gave us when we woke up."

"So did you. But that was _ages_ ago!"

"And do you see me complaining?"

"Um...yes?"

Kouji's face pinched in exasperation. "Look, you're going to have to wait until we can find something to eat."

"Sorry, big brother. Maybe you could Evolve and see if there's anything up ahead?"

"Maybe I don't want to waste my strength."

"Oh."

Kouji ignored him, squinting off into the distance. He could see something, smoke of some kind, billowing up from behind a ridge. Smoke usually meant fire, which could mean a settlement.

"What are you looking at, Kouji?"

"I think there might be a village or something over that ridge."

"Do you think they have food?" Tomoki asked eagerly as he jumped off the train tracks.

"I don't know, but it's worth a shot..." Kouji pulled out his Digivice. "But it might be quicker to fly there. Spirit... _Evolution_!"

As Kouji Evolved to Peregrimon, his sharper eyes now saw bird-like and insect-like Digimon flying in the distance, towards the smoke. Well, hopefully they were friendly. He picked Tomoki up and took off. Sure enough, there was a fairly large cluster of brightly-colored tents sitting in a valley. Going by the way they were lined up in rows, it was some sort of fair.

"Is that a fair of some kind?" Tomoki's wind-swept words reached his ears.

"Looks that way." Peregrimon angled his flight to land just outside of the fair, or whatever it was. He looked at all the Digimon there as he put Tomoki down and decided it might be a good idea to stay Evolved for a while.

Just in case something proved to be hostile.

The banners hung over the fair's gateposts read "Fairweather Fortune-telling Festival." Peregrimon didn't believe in that hoopla, but Tomoki needed food. So did he, for that matter. The "festival" reminded him of those farmers markets back at home, with the various Digimon sellers calling out their wares.

"Lucky charms! Get yer lucky charms here! Made from only the finest Holy Digicode!"

"Hey, you wanna know your future? My wax divination is the most accurate in the Wind Kingdom!"

"Ah, there's nothing to see in wax divination but a bunch'a blobs. Check out my Royal Knight tarot cards! They're the best for foreseeing what is to come!"

Peregrimon saw Tomoki slip behind him, probably intimidated by all the strange Digimon.

"Is there any place where we could get some food?" He asked the nearest Digimon, a creature that looked like a quail with a bush attached to its posterior.

"You're in luck, I'm offering free samples of my oculomancy to answer your question."

"That's not what we were—" Peregrimon was cut off when the Digimon popped up two inches away from his face, staring intensely at his eyes. He jumped back a few feet, tripping over Tomoki as he did. Fortunately, years of training allowed him to turn the tumble into a roll and bounce back to his feet, completely outraged.

"Get away from me!"

"Fire, I see lots of fire...but, fire cannot exist without wind. Without wind, even the most raging flames will quickly burn out."

By this point, Peregrimon had enough. He irritably turned and headed off in another direction, with Tomoki following in his wake.

"What was _that_ about, Kouji?"

"I don't know, and I don't care."

"I think it was pretty rude, he didn't ask before he got all in your face. But maybe finding out what's going to happen is a good thing."

" _You_ do it, then."

Tomoki glanced back at the Digimon, who was now staring at a Digimon that looked like the kiwi birds he'd seen pictures of at school.

"Maybe I'll try another one. Hey, how about that one?"

He pointed at a booth that was labeled "Royal Knight Tarot." A dragonfly-like Digimon hovered by it, trying to attract customers.

"Get your future read by the most reliable suit of tarot cards! Royal Knight Tarot!"

"We don't have any money," Peregrimon reminded him irritably. "And weren't we here to look for food?"

"I know, we can look for something afterwards. Hey, look! That one's free!"

Peregrimon turned his gaze on the first Digimon he'd seen so far that day that wasn't a bird or insect. It looked something like a prarie dog with a rabbit's loppish ears. Unlike the rest, it didn't seem to be advertising its wares, just sitting by a hastily constructed stall under a very obviously hand-drawn sign saying "Fortunes told, free."

_That doesn't look too promising_ , he thought. Before he could say anything, Tomoki ran to the Digimon.

"Are you really free?" He asked. The Digimon very subtly flinched before answering.

"Of _course_ I'm free. I'm the best in the Digital World at Petromancy."

"That's because there's no such thing as Petromancy," a Digimon called from a neighboring stall. "Face it Prairiemon, you're just a con-mon."

"If I were a con-mon, do you think I'd be doing this for free?" The Prairiemon asked indignantly.

"The so-called scrying, yes," another neighbor groaned. "Ten thousand Diyen for a book on how to do it? I've seen scrap paper that was more useful."

"It's not my fault I have to make a living," the Prairiemon turned to Tomoki. " _Petro_ is an ancient human word for _Rock_ , young Digimon."

"I'm no—" Tomoki started before Peregrimon pointedly nudged him. Fortunately, the Prairiemon didn't seem to notice.

"Every rock has its own energy, and that energy responds to the one touching it. Here, hold these."

He pulled two somethings from his stall and handed one to Tomoki and one to Peregrimon.

"What's this?" Tomoki peered at the polished surface of a spherical black rock. Peregrimon scowled down at his own rock, which started glowing faintly. It wasn't very bright, in fact he wouldn't have seen it as a human.

"Why, it's Noirite. The finest for understanding what is yet to come."

"Um, mine's glowing," Tomoki said in an understandably nervous voice. "Is that supposed to happen?"

The stone was indeed glowing, bright enough that Tomoki could have used it as a flashlight if he'd wanted to. The Prairiemon stared at it, clearly taken aback.

"Y-you're so—I mean, the stone is showing a _grand_ destiny."

Tomoki's eyes shone. "Really? Does that mean I'll be able to go home?"

"Better than that. You'll receive power beyond your wildest dreams!"

"That's not what he asked," Peregrimon suddenly had a _bad_ feeling about the stone. "You keep talking about 'power' and 'destiny,' but how's all this going to happen to him?"

"I, uh..." The Prairiemon looked frantically around, as if cornered. The Prairiemon's neighbors were now murmuring among themselves. Then, there was a disturbance a few yards away as something big came barreling towards them. Something that looked a bit like a six-foot long prehistoric bird.

"You! I want my money back, Prairiemon!"

The larger Digimon lunged at the Prairiemon, talons first, knocking over his stall in the process. Peregrimon decided he'd had enough. At first he thought about simply grabbing Tomoki and leaving, but he knew the younger boy would object, so he stepped between them.

"Okay, that's enough. I don't know what's going on here, but violence isn't going to solve anything."

The other Digimon bellowed in rage, dropped the Prairiemon, and backhanded (Back-winged?) Peregrimon into another stall. The Prairiemon took advantage of being free and used his claws to burrow underground so swiftly that by the time the other Digimon turned back, all that was left was a giant hole.

"You made me lose him, you molt-ridden lump of feathers! _Cosmic Ray!_ "

...

Tomoki watched in horror as the big Digimon lobbed off a fireball at Kouji—no, it was _Peregrimon_. The boy-turned-Digimon pulled himself out of the remains of the stall quick enough to dodge it, pulling the two fans out of his wing feathers as he did. The fireball hit the stall of the Kiwi-like Digimon, leaving it a smoking mess.

" _Cosmic Ray!_ "

This time, Peregrimon opened his fans. On closer inspection, Tomoki could see that the fans' blades were light blue, edged with purple in a color scheme that matched the bird-man. The middle part of the blades had a peculiar symbol on them in the same buff-pink as his cheek feathers.

" _Reflecting Wind!_ "

Peregrimon used his fans to create a swirling dome of wind around himself. The fireball buried itself into the wind-shield for a few seconds, then was shot upwards to explode harmlessly in the sky.

"Care to try that again?" Peregrimon smirked, at least as far as someone with a beak _could_ smirk.

The Digimon looked even angrier, if that were at all possible. Then, its crazed eyes turned to _Tomoki_...

He was too scared to move. Again. It was like facing Katsuharu and Teppei again, only a thousand times worse. All he could do was stand there and watch the big Digimon take aim at him.

_No, don't, please!_

Then, feathery arms picked him up and lifted him, just as the fireball hit where he'd been a mere moment before.

"Kouji...?"

"We have to get out of here!" Peregrimon flew higher. The other Digimon tried to follow, but was accosted by the merchant Digimon, irate at having their stalls destroyed.

Peregrimon landed by the other side of the fair, then placed the younger boy down before de-evolving back into Kouji.

"Are you okay?"

"I think so..." Tomoki's heart was still pounding in his ears, but he was otherwise uninjured. "Why was that Digimon so angry?"

"At a guess, I'd say the Prairiemon cheated him."

"But, why would he do that? He seemed so nice!"  
"Because not everyone's honest." Kouji struggled to put the concept into words the other boy would understand. "Sometimes you'll find people who use kind words to bully, instead of threats. They like to take advantage of people who don't know any better or who like to think the best of everyone and they make those people do things for them."

Tomoki mulled those words over for a moment.

"They're just as bad as real bullies, then," he said.

Kouji merely grunted.

There was an awkward silence, interrupted by the sound of a gurgling stomach. For one brief instant, Tomoki thought it was his own. Then he realized that the loud sound was coming from Kouji's midriff. The older boy realized that Tomoki was staring at him, then shifted his glare to the fair behind them in an effort to cover his reddening cheeks.

"We still need to find food," he grumbled.

Tomoki sniffed at the air.

"It smells like someone's cooking something," he remarked.

"Don't get your hopes up. We still don't have any money, and they might not be willing to share."

"I know, but it's better than nothing." Tomoki started walking in the direction of the smell. "Maybe they'll let us help out in exchange for their food."

All of a sudden, there was a commotion at the other end of the festival. Tomoki could see a ripple of reactions as the vendors suddenly seemed all tense, as if they were afraid of something, but it wasn't scary enough to warrant fleeing yet...

"What's going on?" He asked.

Kouji frowned at the vendors. "I don't know, but it's probably not a good thing."

There was a new Digimon wandering through the stalls, who seemed to be the source of the tension. It was a strange-looking creature, almost like a living wood carving, who made its way through the stalls with an airy casualness. It hadn't seen them yet.

"Maybe we should get out of here?" Tomoki suggested.

"Here." Kouji pulled the younger boy into an apparently abandoned stall, ducking under the counter. It wasn't until they were both under that Tomoki noticed that there was someone there, a very small Digimon who seemed to be nothing more than a pink blob with a face, shivering in terror. It unpleasantly reminded Tomoki of himself.

The cloth surrounding the counter of the stall, one that was labeled "Shadow Divination," was just enough to cover them, and flexible enough that Tomoki could move the cloth on one side for a very limited view of the outside. He felt rather than heard Kouji peering over his shoulder. From his vantage point, Tomoki could see the new Digimon passing one of the stalls down the aisle. He could also see that the vendors were clearly tense, as if they expected something bad to happen. He heard Kouji's very faint snort as the new Digimon approached a smaller, trembling Digimon that looked like a miniature eagle.

"All those fortune-tellers, and they couldn't see this guy coming?"

"Maybe they weren't looking?" Tomoki suggested.

The older boy didn't reply. Neither did the little Digimon.

The strange Digimon was getting close enough that Tomoki could hear its —his!— booming voice.

"Lord Cherubimon thanks you for your service. And don't forget to return your library books."

_What?_ Tomoki thought. _That's a bad guy, isn't he? Why's he talking about library books?_

The trembling Hawk-Digimon  seemed to be just as confused.

"Um, yes, Lord Arbormon."

"I'm looking for a pair of humans," Arbormon continued. "Have you seen them?"

Tomoki felt his blood turn to ice. _He's looking for us. If he finds us, what's going to happen? It's not going to be good. What do I do, what do I do...?_

There was a muffled sound behind them, and Tomoki turned to see Kouji holding the small blob Digimon with one hand over its mouth.

"Kouji...?"

"He was about to call that guy. I had to stop him."

"He..." Tomoki gulped, as he realized that Kouji was right.

There was no choice.

"I saw one human earlier, but he was with a Digimon I'd never seen before," the Digimon outside gulped nervously. "They caused a commotion a few minutes ago when an Ornismon got cheated by a Prairiemon, but I haven't seen them since."

"Oh, they probably left." The Arbormon somehow had an expression of disappointment on his unmoving face. "Ah well, at least I know they _were_ here. And knowing is half the battle, ya know? Hey, which way did they go?"

There was another commotion, and from his viewpoint Tomoki could barely see the Digimon from earlier, the Ornismon, swagger in.

"What are you doing here, you stump?"

"Hey, I resemble that insult." Arbormon said. "I may be a bit wooden, but I'm very flexible."

"Answer the question. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for two humans. I think I just missed them, though. Did you see where they went?"

The Ornismon snorted. "No, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Cherubimon might have armies at his disposal, but you're just one Mon. I can Scan you, and get the Spirit of Wood, too."

Tomoki blinked. _Spirit? Like what Kouji has? Is he a human, too?_

Behind him, he could hear Kouji's sharp intake of breath.

"You wanna go at it?" Arbormon sounded surprised. "Okay, but this could get messy..."

" _Cosmic Ray!_ " Fortunately, the Ornismon wasn't facing them, or else they would have been in big trouble. Even then, the pressure from the blast knocked a lot of stalls over in a confusion of smoke, splintering wood, ripped cloth, and fleeing vendors.

"You should be careful with that, you could really hurt somebody." The Arbormon stepped out of the smoke without as much as a scratch on him. "Guess it's my turn now. _Slide Evolution!_ "

Blazing white Digicode surrounded him, like Kouji when he Evolved.

"What's going on?" Tomoki whispered, now confused. _Slide_ Evolution? He was already Evolved, wasn't he?

An object surfaced in the dome of Digicode, a small bust that was just like the Spirit of Wind that Kouji used, if a different design that looked like Arbormon. Then the Spirit sank back into the Digicode, replaced with another object that looked very similar. This one looked a bit like an oddly-shaped flower. It disintegrated, its mass blending in with the Digicode, which grew and swelled and finally burst. The Digimon that came out looked like a thirty foot long plant-lizard.

"... _Petaldramon!_ "

Kouji yelped suddenly and dropped the small Digimon, which promptly scrambled out from under the stall. Tomoki turned just in time to see the other boy cluching his hand and cursing under his breath.

"He bit me! Let's get out of here, before he tells that thing where we are."

Tomoki decided that Kouji had a point, and joined the older boy in slipping out of the stall. Fortunately, Arbormon (Petaldramon?) hadn't noticed them. His attention was focused on the Ornismon, who hovered there gaping at this turn of events.

"You—you found..."

The massive creature stared down at him. "Yup, I found my Beast Spirit. Pretty cool, eh? I wasn't going to use it, but I figure it'll do some good to my reputation. _Leaf Cyclone!_ "

A stream of leaves flew out of Petaldramon's mane, growing denser and denser before streaking back to the ground. The Ornismon took the full force of it, and he screamed in agony before his Digicode unraveled and streamed into Petaldramon's mouth. The leaves arced through him, then spread out to hit everything, and everyone, in their vicinity. The stronger Digimon staggered, or were thrown back by the force. The weaker Digimon, including that pink blob, shriveled into that Digicode stuff with eggs flying out...

_He's killing them_ , Tomoki realized numbly. _They didn't hurt him, and he's killing them!_

"Tomoki! Run!"

He barely noticed Kouji pulling on him, nor when the older boy simply picked him up again and started running. All he could see over Kouji's shoulder was pure chaos.

Petaldramon rampaging around like something out of a Kaiju movie, sending the remaining stalls flying and panicked Digimon fleeing, along with more flying eggs from Digimon who hadn't been able to make it out. Then, they were out of the fair and into the longer grass of the fields surrounding the area. Kouji swiftly bent down, placing Tomoki in a prone position before lying down himself in the obscuring grass. The younger boy didn't move, hearing nothing but the screams and crashes before they faded away into silence.

"Hmm, I didn't mean to destroy everything," Petaldramon finally said. "Looks like I lost control there. That Beast Spirit's stronger than I thought. Ah well, practice makes for strange bedfellows. Now I should go find those humans."

Tomoki stopped breathing as the massive Digimon lumbered by about fifty feet away. He didn't see them hidden in the grass, but Tomoki didn't move, even after the Digimon had passed. All he could think was that Petaldramon had killed everyone. He'd killed them, even though they hadn't hurt him. And he was looking for them...

_He killed them...He'll kill us!_

He had to get out of there! He had to go home!

Tears rolled down his cheeks, and he felt his body shaking, too scared to even start breathing again. He'd never missed his mother as badly as he did in that moment.

"Tomoki!" Oddly gentle hands pressed against his shoulders, blue eyes gazed sharply down at him. Kouji. Curt, blunt, Kouji, with his mouth angled down in a concerned scowl.

His only hope for survival.

"You can breathe now. He's gone."

Tomoki choked as he finally inhaled again. "K—Kouji...big brother?"

"Yeah, it's me. It's over."

Tomoki slumped against the older boy's chest, only tangentially remembering that Kouji didn't like to be touched. This time, Tomoki felt his body tense up, but Kouji didn't pull back right away.

"He's not going to get us, Tomoki. I'll get you home, I promise."

Tomoki clung to those words with the strength of desperation.

...

Prairiemon stared at the device in his hand. His master had told him to use it if he found a Digimon with potential...

He had no doubt that his master would reward him handsomely for this. His mind came up with all sorts of pleasant things. Digicode to make himself more powerful, maybe even enough power to Evolve. Maybe something even better, like a Spirit. He'd heard rumors that the current bearer of the Earth Spirits had displeased the master, but there was no proof.

He activated the device, a projector that would offer him a free line to the master—provided that he had the right thing to report, of course. The flat, clear glass started glowing, and then an image of his master shone on its surface.

"Report."

"Master, I have found someone who has enormous potential for the Spirit of Darkness."

"Oh, have you?"

Prairiemon gulped, but continued. "He's a strange-looking creature, my Lord. I think he might even be a human boy. I've never seen such strong darkness in _anyone_ before."

The testing stone the boy had touched hovered out of his bag, as tendrils of Digicode seeped out of the glass and circled the stone.

"Hmm, this one indeed has much strength," Lord Cherubimon said. "You have done well, Prairiemon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this one might be a bit unpolished, but I wanted to get as much done as I can before school starts again. And yes, I know Ornismon's an Ultimate/Mega, but I wanted to find a bird Digimon that hadn't been used before (as far as I could tell, it's been a while since I saw the later seasons) so it's now a very weak Ultimate/Mega.
> 
> Hopefully I'll be able to do one more chapter before next semester starts. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed this one.

**Author's Note:**

> The odds of this being finished are unfortunately very small, but I promised myself I'd upload one of the fics I was working on if I finished the semester. I wish I had more time to work on it, but a combination of school and a second ("weekday") job working at a library left me with only a few chapters.
> 
> Also, this is my first non-oneshot fic in third person. I felt that this scenario worked better with multiple points of view, and so I made it third person instead of first.


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